Tokyo Gems
by Cybertramon001
Summary: Within the depths of Tokyo, lived four powerful and unique ghouls known as the Crystal Gems. People with gems on their person that grant them greater power. But one of their number falls to childbirth, bearing a half-ghoul hybrid. Now the remaining Gems, Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst, must try their best to raise her son in her stead. Whilst keeping out of the CCG's radar. Rated M.
1. The Passing of the Rose

**Over on Deviantart, I found an awesome series of pictures of the Gems if they were actually ghouls from Tokyo Ghoul. It inspired me so much that I wanted so badly to start this fic (and also because there are literally no crossovers between Steven Universe and Tokyo Ghoul). So enjoy this work and let me know what you think of it.**

 **Also, the art that inspired me was made and belongs to prpldragonart. Make sure to show your appreciation by having a look at their work.**

 **Edit: The Cover Image is a part of the art that inspired me. Thank you prpldragonart for letting me use it as the image.**

* * *

 **Tokyo Gems**

 **Chapter 1: The Passing of the Rose**

 **(13 years ago)**

Shirou Sugimora sighed as he sat at his desk, his bones aching and his muscles creaking. God, he was getting too old for this. How long has he worked at the Commission of Counter Ghoul now? Probably too long by now. At least long enough to have worked with two generations of Investigators. This was definitely his final case. After he survived this – _If_ he survived this – he was officially retiring. Let the younglings handle the Ghouls. He was getting too long in the tooth.

So naturally, command chose to give him one of their most dangerous missions as his 'grand finale'. A small group of strange ghouls that had withstood their every attempt to destroy. If he survived this, he would've retired anyway. No one has ever come back from them without being made useless. Missing limbs, shattered psyches, or even in body bags. While months of intensive studies had helped them find out about their abilities, there several things about them that still boggled the mind. _But then again,_ he thought ruefully, _**everything**_ _about ghouls still boggled the mind at times._

Sighing, he flipped open the case files on these so-called 'Crystal Gems'.

Puma. A pre-pubescent girl with a long bikaku. Named after her cat mask, long tail and animalistic behaviour. They matched several bite marks on the Investigator remains to match that of a child, showing that she was likely feeding the most often on people. Due to her size, age and vulnerability, she was regarded as the weakest of the group. A-ranked.

Next up was The Crane. A teenage girl, described as having the body of a dancer. Fights with a koukaku fashioned into a blade. Wears a bird mask. Most distinguishing feature is the large gem set in the forehead area of the mask. Seems to be the most strategic of the lot. Fortunately, she seems to be a very picky eater. Only attacks certain people, only eats certain parts. Her confirmed feedings are lower than the others. Still an S-ranked ghoul though.

Then there was Gauntlet. A young woman with what seemed to be reddish skin. Named after her rinkaku, a red and blue combination shaped like gauntlets. About 5 feet tall or so. She can somehow anticipate Investigator movements and actions, giving her a significant advantage in both escape and fighting. Has the highest confirmed kills, with several Investigators found imbedded in walls and the ground. He sighed as he remembered the last team to fight her. Poor bastards. They had to rip out the pavement they were slammed into just to get the remains to the morgue. SS-ranked. Advisement is to never approach her without backup.

And finally, the leader of the group. Rose Knight. Sometimes known as the Thorn Bride after her flowery white dress. A very large woman, easily 8 feet tall. Easy to identify by her large amount of pink curly hair and a pink gem in her belly, with the dress cut out to reveal it. Koukaku user, one as a shield and the other as a blade. Both form with thorns on them. While she doesn't kill as many Investigators as Gauntlet, her confirmed kills are easily the most worrying. Good men and women, skilled members, were found completely dead. Evidently, she only attacks when threatened. Still doesn't change the fact that her strength is in proportion to her size. Command has designated her as a SSS-ranked threat. Proceed with caution.

He sighed again. While they were a small group and kept largely to themselves, they were easily one of the more dangerous ghouls out there. Several of his old friends were lost chasing after those four. With any luck, he won't be joining them. He got out of his chair and grabbed the case holding his quinque, before heading out of his office towards the briefing room. As he passed other offices, the men and women inside gave him their final cheers. Or, he thought darkly, their last condolences.

Still, if he was going to go down, he wasn't going without a fight. This thought emboldened him, brought back the younger man who managed to kill half a dozen S-ranked ghouls on his own. The man who joined to make the world a safer place. It was that man who entered the briefing room, standing before a dozen Investigators all ready to fight and die for the mission.

"I hope everyone's signed their wills." He said gruffly. He hoped they wouldn't have need of them.

* * *

It was a dark and foreboding night down in the slums of Tokyo. People stumbled around either drunk or drugged, many completely homeless and living in the garbage. Sometimes very literally. Down in one alley, a man was getting beaten to death, his wallet taken as an afterthought. In another, a woman was having sex with a sleaze to try and make enough money for her rent. This was a place of desperation, of loss and suffering. Good people come here to die. Bad people come here to prey.

Making this the perfect location for a ghoul to operate out of.

"Alright team, listen up." He said, turning away from the truck window to look at his Investigators. "The last reported sightings of the Crystal Gems were within this district. According to spies and informants, they've chased off every other ghoul gang to claim this patch of land. The people here are their food supply, but they're also under their protection. So the locals aren't likely to be too happy to see us. Stay discreet. Try not to pick fights when we don't have to. And stay in groups of three so that we don't end up easy pickings."

"Sir, do we have an idea of where their base is set up?"

"Not exactly. However, the reports say that they've been spotted near the center of this place the most out of all areas. They're likely set up there. Team 1, you approach from the North entrance. Teams 2 and 3, you'll cover the West entrance and the roofs. Team 4, you're with me. We'll lure them out into the killzone. If any of you guys spot them, report in immediately. Don't try any heroics. These girls are tough."

"Yes sir." The Investigators chanted as one. The truck stopped suddenly.

"Team 1. Move out." The doors opened as they jumped out and ran, their quinques hidden under their coats. As soon as the last member left, the doors were closed and the truck moved onwards. When it stopped, teams 2 and 3 were already moving before he even said anything. They were like a well-oiled machine. The truck stopped for a third and final time, and he joined his men in moving into position. As he ran, the various aches and twinges reminded him that he was no spring chicken. But despite that, he managed to keep up with his team. As they passed by one of the many intersections, he pulled his team to a halt. High above them, up on the rooftops, was something that could almost be mistaken for some large bird. It was very thin, almost too thin to be a real person. And a long beak grew from its face, right between two black eyes with white pupils.

Got one.

"Teams, we have spotted The Crane. Preparing to herd into the killzone." He whispered into his earpiece. As he said that, he opened up his case and grabbed the handle. The walls of the case collapsed into a liquid state, flowing into a long tube with large spikes around it. He pointed the end right at The Crane, making sure that the shot would certainly hit and wound her.

A car backfiring echoed through the air, and The Crane moved almost blindingly fast. His shot carved into the roof, but missed her completely.

"Shit." He cursed. "Team 4, get her into position." He called out as he gave chase. True, they wanted her to move. They wanted to get her running to her lair so that they could entrap her. But he was hoping that he could at least wound her before she got there. An injured ghoul is far easier to deal with than a healthy one. He just had to hope that the others were in position and awaiting her arrival. "Men, line up some shots." The Investigators pulled out their pistols, the Q bullets sparking off the rooftops. The Crane jumped down into the streets, obviously using the nearby civilians as cover. Smart of her. They couldn't just shoot blindly into the streets. They were far more likely to hit an innocent. Still, they were herding her. "Teams, we are almost at your location. Are you all in position?"

"Affirmative." A reply came back. "GPS shows that you'll be arriving at the West entrance in less than a minute. No civilians in the immediate area."

"Good. Open fire the moment she gets in your sights. Damn girl is fast for her size." Fortunately, as a koukaku ghoul her speed will get slower if or when she activates her kagune. As they passed through a nearby intersection, they found their path blocked by a large crowd of people. While they weren't threatening them, their reason for being there was obvious. He sighed in exasperation. Damn fools. "Move to the rooftops. Go, go, go." They jumped onto several boxes nearby, pulling themselves upwards before continuing the chase. How much distance did she gain on them because of that delay? Probably enough to hide or escape. But as he thought that, a loud boom shook the area.

"Team 3 here. We got the target. Can confirm severe injuries." His comms crackled. Well, that was one of them almost dealt with.

"Understood Team 3. Finish her off, but keep an eye out for the others. No doubt that explosion drew their attention." Which was exactly what they wanted. By now, they were close enough that he could actually see his men jumping down from the rooftops, at least two officers approaching the wounded ghoul. They were both nearly upon her when all the lights suddenly went out. He cursed. "Team 3, get out of there now." He shouted. A trap. While they had been luring the Crystal Gems into a trap, they had made a trap of their own. The lights flickered back on as they got closer, but Team 3 was gone. All three of them. Dammit. "Teams. Report."

"Team 1 here. We think that something got past us. We couldn't see it though."

"Team 2. West entrance is clear. Nothing got through that way.

"Dammit." He muttered. As he feared, all of Team 3 was dead. The Crane was somehow playing possum to lure them in, to take advantage of their cockiness. Team 4 jumped down into cover, pulling out their quinques and guns. "All units, prepare yourselves. They know we're here, and they're ready to fight. Call out as soon as you spot _any_ of them." He looked out from behind cover, his own quinque ready to fire. There were several seconds of silence and fear.

Then Team 1 started screaming.

He fired a blast over at them, barely missing the Puma as she pulled herself away with her tail. As she did so, she blew a raspberry at the Investigators missing her. One of their own was lying dead, his head slashed open. As he was distracted over there, Team 2 was sent flying. His team started blasting at their previous location, but Gauntlet simply lifted a heavy iron wall upright as cover. As she held that up, her rinkaku smashed downwards before rising from the ground at Team 2's location. Two investigators were smashed into pulp, leaving one injured man left. He blasted the rinkaku away, leaving them with seared burns. A yell behind him alerted him to Puma's arrival, and he rolled aside as her bikaku slashed where his head had been. His quinque changed form until it was a long spear, and he spun the tip at head height. His team ducked as he tried to stab the Puma, but she dropped down and bit into his leg. One of his men slashed at out her, wounding her and forcing her to let go. She scampered off like an animal, while the rest of his teams screamed. He looked up to see that the last member of Team 2 was run through by The Crane, while over by team 1… he almost choked. Team 1 was all dead, Rose Knight standing over them. A crash behind him got him moving, saving his life as Gauntlet lashed out. Well, like he said before. If he was going down, then he was going down fighting. He clashed into The Crane as he passed, knocking her aside with his spear. As he got closer to Rose Knight, he changed his quinque and fired his strongest blast. Her immediate area was hidden behind a large explosion. He almost didn't even notice his leg getting sliced out from under him. But as he looked up from the ground, nose bleeding from the impact, his heart sank.

Rose Knight's shield koukaku was even bigger now, wrapped completely around her. When it shrunk back down, she was completely unharmed. He tried to fire another shot, but Gauntlet crushed his arm under her rinkaku. He wouldn't scream though. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

He stayed determined until the very end, when Gauntlet smashed crushed his head in her rinkaku.

* * *

"Told you that would happen." Garnet said later, after they had retired to their hideout. They had just finished cleaning up most of the mess, and had collected the bodies for their fridge. "At least they didn't send many to fight us." She removed the mask covering the lower half of her face, still wearing her sunglasses.

"True. They most likely underestimated us, like all the other humans." Pearl said matter-of-factly as she helped load the fridge, her bird mask hanging from her neck. "Now, how do you feel Amethyst?"

"Eh, I feel pretty good. That human got a lucky hit in, that's all." The youngest member said as she hung from the roof by her tail. She was holding onto someone's foot, gnawing away at it like a dog on a boot.

Pearl tutted. "Amethyst, what have I told you about eating away from the table? You're dripping blood everywhere." Amethyst groaned, but scurried over to the table to finish her meal. Rose Quartz, the leader of their group, hummed to herself as she pulled off the rubber gloves she was using while cutting up the meat. She looked at the clock and gasped.

"Oh no. I'm gonna be late." She turned around quickly, looking herself over as she did so. "Is there any blood on me? How do I look?"

"You look perfect." Pearl sighed, aquamarine eyes glistening. Garnet walked around her.

"I don't see any blood on you." She said simply. "But what are you going to be late for? We don't have anything planned for tonight."

"Except for Pearl's uptown dinner." Amethyst added.

"Well… it wasn't exactly planned, but I'm… going to meet a friend I made. A _human_ friend."

"A _human?_ " Pearl asked in shock, startled out of her dreamy state. "You've made friends with a human? Oh, Rose. I know I try to be supportive, but that's a _terrible_ idea. What if he realises what you are? What if he reports you to the CCG? And besides, he can't be all that interesting."

"Oh, but he is Pearl. He's a musician, all the way from America. His songs sound truly impressive. Shame that his manager is a bit of an ass."

"I know. We can eat his mean manager." Amethyst said excitedly.

"Uh, maybe not." Rose replied nervously. "Well, I'd better go. He's doing a whole solo just for me." She hummed happily to herself as she walked away, feet covered now by some fashionable boots. Pearl watched her go with a bit of envy.

"I can sing." She said to herself grumpily. Garnet and Amethyst looked at her for a second before they both started snorting with laughter. Pearl blushed in embarrassment. "Fine. If you're both going to be like that, then I'm off to find some _proper_ dinner. Not just the trash we pull off the ground. We don't even know where the Investigators have been. They could have nasty chemicals in them to stop us finding them appetising. At least, that's what I'd do if I were in charge."

"Ah lighten up. I've been eating these guys loads of times, and nothing bad has happened to me." But Pearl didn't reply. She just stormed out and headed for the rooftops.

"What is _she_ so upset about?" Amethyst asked. Garnet just shrugged.

* * *

Pearl was high above the business district, watching as the people passed her by down below. She was busy scoping them out, trying to find the right choice. So far, she hadn't found anyone good enough.

"Too old." She said, watching an aged business man hobble by. "Too much plastic." She pointed out a woman with extensive signs of plastic surgery. "Too fattening." This one was a large man practically wobbling down the street. She tried to sniff one out, only to recoil and gag as a noxious vapour passed her by. "Ugh. I feel sick just _smelling_ him." But then her nose caught the scent of something lovely. Something delicious. Something… good. "Hmm." She smiled, watching as a young woman walked by, bedecked in jewellery. "Nutritious, _and_ rich. A perfect combination. She fluffed her hair to cover the pearl in the center of her forehead, before dropping down and following her from a distance. Now to figure out how to catch her alone. She always preferred to be precise with her kills. A broken neck here, a slashed throat there. Something that didn't make too much of a mess with her meal. Things that were a bit more difficult when one had to worry about witnesses. And they were difficult to get symmetrical when she was rushing too. As she watched, the woman entered a jewellery store, and she was forced to follow. One thing Rose had taught her was to act confident. As long as she did that, no one would care that she looked too young to be there. So she strolled haughtily into the store, looking over the jewels with a critical eye while keeping watch of her target with the mirrored glass. Even as she watched, the woman waited till people were looking away. Then she quickly looked around before grabbing a diamond ring from a stand. So, little miss rich was a thief. Pearl smiled as an idea came to her. Well then, it was a good thing she wasn't truly either human or a real ghoul. Making sure that no one was paying her too much attention, she sidled over to her target's area. It took a bit to find a stand big enough, but she found the perfect spot to hide. She crouched down behind the counter and jumped upwards, her body turning into RC cells and flowing into the gem on her forehead. Yes, she wasn't an actual person. She was really a gem. A gem with RC cells, as odd as it sounds. As an added side effect, they always had to have a gem fused to their body, and they were considered unbelievable quality. She and the others had lost count of how many times people tried to pry the gems off them to try and make some extra cash. They never survived the experience.

And she could also look out of her gem if need be.

"That's it. Closer. Closer. Over here, human. Look at the big pearl just sitting there." She whispered to herself. The Greedy human hemmed and hawed as she looked for anything else to steal, grabbing a necklace and a watch before ending up right in front of Pearl's stand. The woman's eyes lit up like a bonfire as she saw Pearl just sitting there, out in the open and completely unguarded. Quick as a flash, she grabbed the gem and dropped it into her purse, walking away now. Pearl didn't care about where she was going. Just as long as it was private.

She was jostled around quite a bit before the woman stopped, the sounds of an engine humming. They drove for quite a bit before they finally stopped, the woman on the move again. Doors opened and closed, locks were engaged, and then she found herself out in the open again, the woman's face far too close.

"Oh, you're a pretty little thing, aren't you?" The woman cooed, rubbing Pearl over and over. "I can't wait to make you into a necklace, or maybe a crown. You'll be the talk of the town." Pearl unfurled her RC cells, knocking herself out of the woman's hand and reforming her body and clothes. She found herself standing right before her, their noses almost touching. The woman looked at her in shock and horror while Pearl smirked at her.

"You say the sweetest things." Pearl said. And then the woman gave off a half-formed scream before Pearl slit her throat and tossed her into the bathtub.

Only after most of the blood had drained did she finally eat.

* * *

"Wow. This'll probably be worth quite a bit to Rose's supplier." Pearl said, looking closely at the small ruby she had pulled out of the bag. Evidently, that woman had been a busy magpie. There was probably enough gold and jewels in here to last them years. Longer even, since they didn't have to buy much food. She hummed to herself as she walked along the empty street, admiring the night sky, the stars, Rose with a human male, a lovely plant…

Wait. She quickly looked back at the bus stop. She didn't imagine it. There was Rose. _Her_ Rose. With a disgusting human male. They were staring into each other's eyes, and both had absolutely sappy smiles on their faces. And they were holding hands. And he was whispering sweet little things to her.

That was what _she_ wanted to do with Rose.

She quickly crept closer, hiding behind the bus stop and listened in. Her stomach turned as she heard them talk.

"…You're a truly amazing woman, Rose." The man said lovingly. "From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew that you were the one. And whatever reason you think it wouldn't work out between us, we'll work through it. I'm willing to do anything to keep this chance at true love." Pearl wanted to gag. What did a _human_ know about true love? He couldn't love her the way _she_ could. He couldn't fuse with her, to become one whole. He was stuck with a pale imitation of their love.

"I thought you might say that Greg." Rose said kindly. Pearl smirked. Here it was. She was going to let him down gently. But not _too_ gently, of course. "I don't think it's very often that someone would be willing to do so much for another. But there are things about me that would frighten you. They frighten me too. And there's nothing I could do to change it. But… But if you really do love me for who I am, then I'm sure we can work around them." Pearl's heart turned to ice, and her blood froze over. She could feel her kagune writhing under her skin. She knew that her eyes would be black, as her whole body shook. She… She loved _him?_ She _loved_ him? But… But that's… She shouldn't… But she was hers! They were meant to be. It just wasn't… she felt herself tearing up. What did he have that she didn't? Why did Rose love him more than her? Why? Why? Why?

"Pearl?" Rose's voice cut through her panic. She blinked to see her standing there, looking at her in worry. It took a lot of effort, but she managed to get herself back under control. "Why are you…? How long have you been…?"

"Long enough." Pearl said distantly. "So, this 'Greg' is your boyfriend then?"

Rose nodded sheepishly. "I was drawn to the love and heart he placed in his music. It was wonderful, seeing him enjoy singing so much."

"Oh, I bet it was." Pearl muttered angrily, watching a bus drive off. Rose seemed to realise what she was looking for.

"Pearl." She said firmly. "I hope you're not planning on doing anything to him. Greg is a loving, gentle, and kind person. And frankly, I'm worried about your intentions about him."

"I don't have any intentions."

"You started flaring up in the middle of an intersection. Someone could've seen you."

"Ohhh, so _now_ you're concerned about our identities. Rose, he's a human. They hate people like us. They think we're monsters. I don't care about how kind and understanding he is, once he knows that you're a…" She looked around, seeing the people watching them. Growling in frustration she started walking off. "…You know what I mean."

"He won't betray us. He's different. I just know it."

"But what if he isn't? What if you're wrong? Your life will be in danger. The attack this very night shows that the CCG are still looking for us. I don't… I don't…" She started crying hot tears. Angry tears. Rose pulled her into a deep, warm hug. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know you don't Pearl." Rose said softly. "God knows how many times you've thrown yourself into a doomed fight just to protect me." She crouched down, to look the younger ghoul in the eye. "But this is what I truly want. A future. A family."

"But I thought _we_ were your family." Pearl said, turning away.

"You are. You all are my family. But I want to have a child. To hold a little bundle of joy in my arms. To prove that humans and ghouls _can_ live together in harmony."

Pearl cried even more, her face now blotchy and streaked with tears. "Let someone else do it. Let someone else risk their life for a fool's errand. I won't let you throw your life away for it."

"Pearl, I love you." Rose said. Pearl's heart stopped for a second. Did she just…? "I care about you, and I honestly couldn't think of anyone other than you at my side. But I'm afraid that it's not up to you whether or not something isn't worth risking my life for." She heard Rose sigh. "I need this Pearl. I need to know that there's more to life than just hiding and eating and killing. So please. Help me make this world something more. Please?"

"…" Pearl gave a sobbing sigh. "Alright. I'll help. Somehow." She felt Rose gently hug her from behind, and she snuggled into her arms. But it didn't feel as good as it used to. It didn't have the same warmth or softness to it that she remembered.

"Thank you Pearl. This means so much to me." Right. Of course it didn't feel right.

Rose could never love _her_ now.

* * *

 **(11 years ago)**

It was a dark and dismal day when Garnet returned to the hideout, carrying a wrapped human over her shoulder. A few of her bruises were fading even now. She dropped the whole thing onto the table, the thud heard throughout the room. As she unwrapped it and started carving chunks off, she saw Amethyst peeking round the door. Garnet put on a smile as she worked. "Girls. Dinner's here." She called out. It was several seconds before Amethyst finally came running out. She quickly grabbed an arm and started gnawing away at it, blood dripping from her mouth. Garnet looked up at the other door, and sighed in frustration. "Pearl's still not coming out?"

Amethyst shook her head. "I think she's dead. There's a nasty smell coming from her room."

"Gem-Ghouls can't die." Garnet said as she loaded several bits of meat into a blender, more to herself than to Amethyst. "We can starve, but we can't die." Still, it _was_ still worrying. Ever since they all first met, Pearl has always been the neatest of them. Everywhere she worked was always as clean as possible. To have gotten to a state where her room would smell… It was very worrying. She sighed. "I'll just get this to our newest member, and then I'll check on her." She pureed the meat into a liquid, before pouring every last drop into a bottle. Then she headed over to the nearby crib, putting a smile on her face. "Hello, little one. Feeling hungry?"

"He should be. Little dude's been crying all afternoon. I had to entertain him myself."

"Oh Pearl." Garnet muttered to herself as she helped little Steven feed. One of his irises was a bright pink, signifying his half-ghoul nature. Peeking out of his belly was Rose's gem, now dormant. Steven was the only thing left of her. Well, that and her…

She looked up, noticing that something was missing. "Amethyst." She called out. "Where's Rose's dress?"

"Huh? Oh. Ohhh. Whoops."

"Nevermind. I think I know where it is." She grabbed a plate she had set up nearby, carrying it down the dark hallway to a closed door. In her neatest handwriting, it said 'Pearl's room. Do not enter. This means _you_ Amethyst'. She tried the handle, and was pleased to see that it was still unlocked. "Pearl? Pearl, I'm coming in." Silence. Now she was starting to get worried. Maybe Pearl _was_ dead. Maybe she… she shook her head. That was not helping matters. She had to stay strong. As the oldest, she needed to keep the others calm. She opened the door, what little light falling onto a dirty bed. Stains covered the sheets, and most of the stuff was on the floor. Disturbingly though were the ravaged pictures and drawings of Greg Universe. They had been slashed repeatedly.

She made a mental note to check on him afterwards. Make sure that he was ok too.

"Pearl, this has to stop. You need to start eating again." She said firmly, pulling away the cover. As she had hoped, Pearl was still alive. And she was curled up in Rose's dress. It was so much bigger than her that it made her look like a child playing dress-up. "I got you a heart and an arm. Those are your favourite bits, remember?"

Pearl sniffled, staring at nothing and stroking the dress. Over, and over, and over again. "Leave me alone Garnet. Just leave me to my pain." She whispered, turning away. She was badly malnourished, her bones peeking through her skin and her hair a mess. The room lit up as her gem started projecting. It was a memory of Rose. Of them both together and hanging out. Of the older days, when Rose was like a mother to them.

"Pearl, you're starving. You're wasting away. This isn't you."

"It is now. What's the point otherwise? There is nothing for us in this cruel world."

"This isn't what Rose wanted." Even as she said that, she knew she made a mistake. The projection faded, and Pearl was shaking madly.

"Well it doesn't matter what Rose wants, does it? Because Rose **IS DEAD!"** Pearl screamed in her face, nose to nose. Tears streamed down her face, but it was like she was almost out of tears. "She's dead and gone now. And for what? Some stupid pointless dream. A hopeless fairy-tale." She gave off a choking laugh, sounding as though she was falling apart. And she could very well be falling apart inside. "Humans and ghouls living together. It's nothing but rubbish. They will always hate each other, and nothing is going to change that. Not love, not friendship, not some half-breed abomination…"

A loud crack filled the air, and Pearl found herself lying on the floor. Blood dripped from her nose, and her cheek ached like mad. Garnet stood over her, her rinkaku out and breathing heavily.

"Never. Call him. That." She said firmly and angrily. "He is not an abomination. He's hope for the future. And the future is still worth living for, even if Rose isn't in it anymore." Pearl looked away, shame on her face. "Look at yourself Pearl. You're falling apart. You're throwing your life away."

"You're implying that I have a life to lose anymore. I have nothing anymore."

"Yes you do. You have us still. Rose isn't the only person you care about, I just know it." Pearl stayed silent. Garnet sighed, tears running down her face. "Do you really think you're the only one who misses her? I miss her too. So does Amethyst. And Greg too. But we can wallow in pity and sorrow. We still have our lives to look after." She bit her lip. "I need your help Pearl. With Rose gone, our enemies aren't as scared of us anymore. The Wolfheads and the Snake Men are moving in, taking ground bit by bit. I can't fight them alone _and_ look after Steven at the same time. And Amethyst's barely any older than him. She's not truly capable of looking after him full-time."

"Why?" Pearl asked. Garnet could tell what the full question was. _Why should I help look after the thing that took her from us?_

"Because it's what Rose wanted. And he's the only thing we have left of her. If he dies… Then she really _will_ be gone. For good." She placed the plate of flesh down on a nearby desk. Please Pearl. I need you. I need both of you to help me."

"..." Garnet sighed before leaving, slamming the door shut behind her. Fine then. If Pearl would rather wallow in her own pity rather than actually do anything, then there was nothing she could do for her.

Inside the room, Pearl carefully removed the dress and folded it gently into a neat little square. Then she started eating the dinner Garnet had made for her.

* * *

 **(Present Day)**

Steven Universe woke up to a bright and sunny day, with birds chirping outside his window. He had a lovely dream just now. It had him and the Gems flying on clouds, heading towards his Mom. And in her arms, getting along, were ghouls and humans. They were laughing and playing and singing songs. It was lovely. A stark contrast to the real world.

 _Steven, the world is a dangerous place for ghouls._ Pearl told him often. _People fear and hate us because human flesh is the only thing we can digest. And because of that hatred, they lash out at us. To them, it doesn't matter that you're a sweet little boy. They_ _ **will**_ _watch you be taken away if they find out the truth about you. So, remember to keep your eye hidden at all times._ And so he grabbed the cute little eyepatch Pearl sewed for him and made sure it covered his left eye. There. Now he looked like a normal person. Well, as long as they didn't look too closely at the star in his eye. That was a bit awkward.

"Hey hey. Look who's finally out of bed." Amethyst said cheerfully as she at her breakfast. Well, drank it mostly. Because of her eating habits recently, Pearl put her on a diet of coffee to teach her a lesson. At least she was still cheerful around _him_. "How was that test last night? Did Pearl bore you to tears?"

"No. It was actually pretty fun." Steven said truthfully. Pearl always took his personal education very seriously.

"Ugh. You're starting to sound like her. I swear, I've _never_ met someone else so excited about the different shades of purple in the world or talk for hours about a semicolon. What was the point of that semicolon anyway?"

"Uhh, I don't think there _was_ one." Steven admitted. Amethyst groaned as she took another sip of her coffee. As he sat down, Pearl came over from the kitchen area with a plate of cooked meat. You couldn't even tell that it used to be human flesh. "Wow Pearl. That look yummy."

"I put in extra effort for you Steven. And here's that mint sauce you liked so much." She placed a jar next to him, already opened and with a spoon inside.

"Hey. How come you don't put that much effort into my meals?" Amethyst asked.

"Because you need to learn to curb your eating habits before you bring the CCG down on us. And it also helps to not insult the cook when she's right in front of you." Amethyst stuck her tongue out at her, while Pearl responded with a stink eye. "So Steven. What are your plans for today?"

"I dunno yet. I was thinking of maybe just walking around."

"Alright then. Just make sure not to walk off too far. And here's some money for coffee in case you get hungry. And be careful not to accidently reveal your kagune. And don't talk to strangers. And say hello to Yoshimura for me. And…"

"Ugh. Enough Pearl. I think he gets it. It's not like you've been going over this for 11 years now." Steven said a quick goodbye as he left, running before they started arguing again. It wasn't that Pearl was being too cautious (ok, maybe she was). It was because the world was that dangerous. Though he knew they wouldn't like him listening in, he overheard them talking to Mr Yoshimura several times. Talking about families wiped out by Doves, of children shot in the streets for being a ghoul, of orphans living on the streets in search of food. It made him very happy to at least have some guardians to look after him. Not many ghouls these days were so fortunate.

He often wondered why the CCG hunted them so much. It couldn't be _just_ because they hated ghouls, despite what Amethyst believed. Maybe they lost people to mean ghouls. Of course, that would mean that they act mean to ghouls, causing them to act mean back in revenge. Someone should really get the two groups to sit down and apologise. That would make things better.

"Morning Steven." Mr Smiley said cheerfully, waving and showing off his trademark big smile. "How are you today?"

"Feeling pretty great. I aced my test on reptiles yesterday."

"Great to hear that kid. Your aunt Pearl is a pretty great teacher."

"Yeah, I know. Kinda wish I could go to a real school, but then I wouldn't get to hang out with them all the time." He smiled. "Heard anything interesting going on in the block?"

"Not really, aside from Bill apparently striking out with Pearl again. That makes, what, 25 times now?"

"28 actually." Bill Dewey had fallen in love with Pearl the moment he laid eyes on her, just like Steven's folks had when they first met. But unlike Mom, Pearl wasn't interested. A good thing though. Mr Dewey apparently lost his wife to a ghoul attack. He'd have a heart attack if he knew he was falling for a ghoul.

"Hmm. Yeah. Not much else really." Steven started walking off when Mr Smiley called him back. "I _knew_ there was something I was forgetting. You know that house at the other end of the street?"

"Mr Wiltshire's place?"

"That's the one. Well, apparently a new family is moving in. They've had a moving truck set up there all morning. And from the looks of it, they've got a kid too. Or at least, that's what I've heard."

"Really?" Steven asked excitedly. Sure, the Gems were great. They were his family. And the neighbours were cool too. But they were all so much older than him, and more interested in older things. It'd be nice being friends with someone closer to his age. "Where are they now?"

"Haven't got a clue kid. It might be best to head on over and ask."

"Sure thing." Steven hurried away as fast as his flip flops would allow him, almost crashing into Garnet on the way. "Oh, Garnet. You're back. How are things?"

"Getting better." She replied. "There aren't that many gangs trying to get into the 20th ward nowadays. And there are also at least three less bad ghouls threatening everyone."

"Cool. I mean, that's sad. But at least they can't hurt anyone else now."

Garnet chuckled. "I know what you meant. You have fun now, ok?"

"I will. I was just gonna check on the new neighbours." He said, running past her. Luckily, they weren't hard to miss. The moving truck was still there, unloading a few smaller things now. He was wondering how to approach them when the front door opened. And a young girl left the house. She was dark skinned and dressed in a white-and-blue dress, with peach boots and a large hat. She was currently reading a book, partially hiding her glasses. She sat down on a seat near the house, evidently wanting to escape the chaos happening inside. Maybe.

"Uh…Hi." He said finally, after standing near her for several moments. "My name's Steven." He held out his hand for her to shake.

"C-Connie." She replied, shaking his hand before going back to her book. There was another awkward silence.

"So… I uh, I hear that you're new to the block."

"I am." She affirmed.

"Well, then let me give you the official Nerima welcome." He mimed blowing a trumpet while walking around her. "Dah-da-da-dah. Dah-data-data-dah. Dum-dum-dum-dah-dah. Welcome the Nerima, the friendliest and safest neighbourhood in Tokyo. And jazz hands." He splayed his hands out, shaking them wildly. Connie just stared at him. "Too much?"

Connie snorted, before she started laughing loudly. "No. No, it's ok. That was… really nice. Most kids try a couple of times before walking off. I find it kinda hard to make friends."

"That's ok. I'm determined to be your friend. I'll do all the work for you. Do you want to go and explore?"

"Explore? I don't know." She said nervously. "My parents worry about me. And what if we get attacked by a ghoul?"

"Don't worry. Pearl says that ghouls only attack loners. As long as we stay in a crowd and don't go off with strangers, we should be ok."

"You sure?"

"Promise." Connie stared at him for several seconds before finally nodding.

"Ok. Just give me a moment to ask my folks first." She hurried inside, almost leaving her book behind in her rush. Steven sat down on the bench as he waited twiddling his thumbs. Then he started wondering why it was called 'twiddling'. He was coming up for other words to replace twiddling when Connie finally came back. She was now wearing a sash covered in protective equipment. Horns, flares, pepper spray, a small mallet. He looked at all that in confusion.

"Don't say a word." Connie deadpanned. "It was the only way my parents would let me go in the first place."

"Rrrrright. Well, let's get going. There's a café in town that I'm known at." He pulled her along to catch the bus, hurrying as it got ready to leave.

He failed to notice the dove crest on Connie's sash.

* * *

 **There we go. A lot of the things in this are based either on notes that prpldragonart wrote down in their artwork, or personal head-canon of mine. Like the fact that at first Pearl hated Steven. That's my personal thoughts. Their kagunes though, that was all prpldragonart's ideas. So thank you once again for letting me use that as the basis for this.**

 **Now, the Gems** _ **are**_ **still gems in this. It's just that they're more like ghoul gems instead of alien gems. It's like… It's like there is a large collection of RC Cells that solidified and compressed into a gem shape, and that's their real forms. I originally thought of having them as just ghouls, but according to the art they** _ **definitely**_ **fuse, and I couldn't think of a way that normal ghouls could do that. So they stay as gems. And I know that Amethyst is marked as an S-ranked ghoul, but this was back when she was younger. Less dangerous. As for personalities, they're pretty much the same as in the show. They're not like ghoul-supremacists or anything. Though Pearl still considers humans insignificant, like bugs. She won't go out of her way to squash them, but she doesn't really think they're worth caring about most of the time. They moved from their old hideout to the 20th ward because it would be easier to care for Steven there. And yes, several people from Steven Universe live there too.**

 **Oh, and the idea that Connie's parents are Doves came from prpldragonart too.**


	2. Two Sides of the Coin

**I dedicate this chapter to thewittywhy, since they're the one who got me to stop procrastinating and get this over with already. I had a few good ideas that just needed a push, and I got it.**

 **Enjoy thewittywhy. Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Two Sides of the Coin**

Connie stayed close to Steven as they walked through the packed crowd, eyes flitting everywhere. She clutched her sash tightly, hand on the pepper spray. Steven saw her nervousness.

"It's ok." He said calmly to her. "The Nerima Ward is actually pretty quiet. You only get ghoul attacks almost once a month. And they stop pretty quickly too."

"Wait. Once a month?" Connie asked in surprise.

Steven nodded. "We even went two whole months without any attacks. I guess that's why people are so friendly here."

"Yeah, but… How come this area is so much more docile than the other wards?" She had originally arrived from America, where the wards were far more violent. She couldn't actually imagine a place with less than one attack per week. Steven stopped for a moment, as though he was contemplating.

"I… I'm not sure. Pearl thinks it's because the Ghouls here police themselves. They've got some way of feeding themselves without hurting people, and they make sure that anyone not interested goes somewhere else. At least that's what she says." Connie fought the _very_ strong urge to snort in derision. Ghouls keeping the peace? As if. All they could do was act like monsters and kill people. " _There is no such thing as a good Ghoul."_ Her mother kept saying. And from what she peeked at on the late-night news, she was probably right.

"Ah, here we are!" Steven said loudly, waving his hands in the direction of a small building with wide glass windows. Plants grew on the balcony, giving it a rustic feel. "Welcome to Anteiku Café. The friendliest café in Tokyo."

" _The_ friendliest?" She asked, smiling.

"Of course. Would I lie to you?"

"Have you actually seen other cafes?"

"No. But I still think they won't be as friendly as Anteiku. Come on. I can introduce you to the owner. He's a friend of ours." He grabbed her by the hand and gently tugged her in. Some of the customers looked up as they entered, before going back to their meals and conversations. One of the waiters, a tall man with a large nose, waved cheerfully at Steven as he entered. He dragged her towards the counter, where an old man was drying some glasses.

"Hello Mr Yoshimura." Steven said to the old man, waving his hand quickly. Mr Yoshimura looked up from his work and gave him a smile.

"Ah, hello Steven." He said jovially. "Did you manage to pass your exam?"

"You betcha."

"Wonderful. In that case, I think you've earned a free meal for your efforts." He turned to look at Connie. Except that he seemed to be squinting quite a bit. "And what's this? Have you made a new friend?"

Steven nodded. "Her name's Connie. She just moved into Mr Wiltshire's old place."

"Really? Well then, welcome to the neighbourhood Miss Connie. I hope you find your time here a pleasant one."

Connie bowed, as she had been taught by her parents. "Thank you Mr Yoshimura. This place looks very pleasant."

"I'm glad to hear that." He rang a bell next to him. "Kirishima. Can you find Steven and Connie a seat?" A young woman, practically in her teens, headed on over and bowed to him. She had short dark-blue hair, but her face was soft and kind.

"Of course Mr Yoshimura. Come along you two. I know just the place for you." Steven grabbed her hand, and they moved like some kind of train to a free table. Kirishima helped them both into their chairs before pulling out a notepad. "Now, what would you like for your meals?"

"I'll just have the usual." Steven said immediately. "What about you Connie?"

"I… I don't… really know." She quickly skimmed through the menu, trying to find something she'd probably like. "How about… the soufflé?"

Kirishima nodded as she wrote it all down. "There we go. I'll be back with your meals shortly." She left them to their own devices, which was mostly just awkward silence.

"So…" Connie started saying, trying to fill the silence with something else. "Uh…" Many questions spun in her mind, several she felt were too tactless to ask. "You keep mentioning a 'Pearl'. Is she your mom or something?"

"Huh?" Steven asked in confusion. "Oh. No. Not really. Though she acts a lot like my mom. You know, helping me with homework and tidying up after me and things like that. Mind you, she's also my teacher too. So I suppose she kinda _has_ to help me with my homework."

"So how do you know her? Is she your aunt?"

"Honorary aunt actually. She was a good friend of my Mom's, but she's not related by blood or anything."

"Was? What changed?"

"My Mom died."

"Oooh." Connie decided that awkward silence was much better.

"It's ok. I was way too young to remember her. But from what everyone else tells me, she was a really nice lady. Kind, yet strong and dependable too. You wouldn't see someone pushing her around, no matter who or what they were."

"Well what your Dad? Is he still around?"

"Yeah. He runs a car wash not far from our house. He's really nice and funny, but I don't think he's quite ready to look after a kid on his own." He looked a bit downcast before perking up again. "So what about you? You mentioned parents before too. What are they like?"

"…Protective." She decided to go for. There were other, meaner words some people might use, but she knew they just worried about her. "I'm their only child, so they tend to worry."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I skinned my knee when I was younger, and Pearl was almost ready to take me to the emergency room before Garnet talked her out of it. She's another of my 'aunts'."

"Right. I know they mean well, but sometimes I just feel a bit…"

"Stifled?"

"Exactly." At least _he_ understood what she meant. "It's because of their jobs really. They get so nervous that they try to bottle me up."

"What do they do?"

"Private detectives." She lied. "People ring them up, asking them to find lost items and people, and they go and start looking. But most of the time, it turns out that they run into cases involving Ghouls."

"Ooh. Yeah, that would be kinda scary."

"Yeah. And then they have to go and inform the CCG without getting attacked by Ghouls _and_ try to still get their pay. Dad figured it'd be a good idea to move to here. Less chance of running into danger like that down here."

"Well, he's certainly right on the money. Nerima is a really quiet place, and with lots of friendly people. If you'd like, I could recommend them to people when I see them."

"No. I mean, no thank you. We always get enough people over the phone. I'm sure we can do just as well here too." While it was _their_ idea, she doubted Mom and Dad would be happy if a dozen people came to their front door asking for help. Why couldn't they have said that they were police officers? That would've made just as much sense. Perhaps it was time to turn the conversation away from her for a moment. "Hey I've been meaning to ask, but why are you wearing an eyepatch?"

Smooth, Connie. _Real_ _smooth_.

"Huh?" Steven looked at her for a moment before he understood what she meant. "Oh. This? I was born with a… a defect. I'm blind in one eye. People would find it weird to look at, so I just wear an eyepatch. That way I can pretend to be a pirate." He swung his hand around, making sword noises, when Kirishima returned. In one hand she had a yummy-looking pork pate, while in the other she was carrying what looked like a muffin in a cup. At the same time, a raggedy-looking lady came strolling in, whistling some tune to herself. Connie found herself staring, not because the lady was ugly, or dirty, or anything unsightly.

It was because her skin was clearly _purple_.

"Yo, Yoshimura." She called out as she leaned on the counter. "How's things?"

"Fine as always Amethyst." He replied politely.

"Great. Give me a big 'n' hearty, and then supersize it."

Yoshimura chuckled to himself. "Sorry Amethyst. But Pearl's already told me about how you're on a diet. Even if I was willing to help you ignore your health regime, which I'm not, I don't want to get on Pearl's bad side." Amethyst stared at him in shock before pouting heavily.

"Ugh." She groaned. "Has she taken over every part of my life? Come on, Yoshi. Throw me a bone here. I'm wasting away."

"Funny. If I didn't know any better I'd say that you've put on weight this past week." The man with the big nose said.

"Hey! I'll have you know that some people _prefer_ a bit of meat on a lady, Enji." And she slapped her hip in emphasis.

"Point is you're hardly starving away there."

"Fine." She grumbled. "Give me a big latte then. The biggest one you've got."

"Ok then. One Amethyst Armlock special, coming right up."

"Thanks Enji. You're a dear." Connie watched this interaction with slack-jawed surprise. Apparently, she was the only one here who found this woman bizarre. Even the other customers didn't pay her that much attention.

Well, Steven was paying a lot of attention. Though it was mostly waving wildly at the woman. The lady, Amethyst, smiled as she spotted them.

"Hey Steven." She said as she got closer.

"Hey Amethyst. I see you managed to get away from Pearl then." He replied happily.

"Yeah. Luckily Mr Dewey made his 29th attempt to wow Pearl with his 'insightful' speeches. Made my getaway while he was trying to say some real words in her presence."

"How did he do this time?"

"Better, I think. At least he wasn't yelling when I left."

Steven started laughing. "You'd think a former politician would be able to speak when nervous."

"Uh, Steven?" Connie almost whispered to him. "How do you know this… lady?"

"Oh, she's another honorary aunt. Amethyst, this is Connie. She's our new neighbour." Enji came along with her coffee, and she practically downed it all in a single gulp before unleashing a loud belch.

"Hey kid. Welcome to the neighbourhood." She held out her hand, but then brought it back to wipe her nose on her arm. Connie wisely didn't shake hands with her.

"Steven…" She bit her lip, wondering how to say this without being tactless. _Steven, I've noticed that there's something off about your aunt's skin. Steven, does your aunt have some kind of medical condition? Steven, does your aunt have a habit of dying her skin?_ But then Enji came back over.

"Yoshimura got a call from Pearl. She apparently wants you to get your butt back home this instant, or else she's coming to drag you back by your nose."

"Ugh. Fine. But only because being dragged by the nose is only funny when it happens to _other_ people." She moved back to the counter to pay for her drink, before leaving the café in a huff.

"Steven, your aunt has purple skin." Whelp, so long tact. It was nice knowing you.

"I know." Steven replied cheerfully. He didn't seem to understand how that was a bad thing.

"Steven. Your aunt. Has. _Purple. Skin._ "

"Yeah? And?"

" And you don't find it the slightest bit strange?"

He shrugged. "Should I?"

"Yes. You should. People don't have purple skin. It's just not…"

"Normal?" He shrugged again. "Eh. Amethyst's always had purple skin. I just figured that there are purple people out there."

"Uh… huh. And the giant gemstone on her chest." Steven gave a loud gasp, before he started laughing.

"Hah. You looked down Amethyst's shirt."

"Did not. It was peeking out. And quit changing the subject."

"She superglued it."

"W-Why?"

"I dunno. She thought it'd look cool or something. She does things like that all the time. She once TP'ed the local donut store in Christmas lights for a laugh."

"Really." She wasn't sure if she believed him. What kind of person superglues a giant gem to their chest for no reason?

Steven seemed to become tense under her scrutiny. "Uh, hey. How about we go to the arcade after we've finished our meals? They've got all kinds of cool games over there. And I'm _reasonably_ sure that they've forgiven me for that incident last month."

"Wait. What incident?"

* * *

It was later at night when they finally ran out of quarters for the arcade. Left with nothing else to do, they both headed on home.

"Whew." Steven wiped his brow. "I was getting worried there when they first stopped us. Good thing that Pearl got to them at some point and paid for the damages."

"I still can't believe that you broke the Meat Beat Mania game the last time you were there." Connie said in astonishment as they hopped off the bus.

"It was the only way to free Garnet from its evil clutches." He said dramatically. "I'm serious. She was there for four days straight before I managed to get her to leave."

"That's a bit worrying." Connie stated the obvious. They walked in silence until they reached her new home. Mercifully, it seemed that Mom and Dad were finished with all the moving business. "Well, today's been rather nice. A lot better than the last few places I've been to."

"Nice to hear that. Can we hang out again some other time?"

Connie giggled. "Sure. Just give me a few days to get used to everything here." She liked hanging out with him. Sure, his family seemed a bit strange at times (Amethyst in particular) but he was really fun to hang out with. And he seemed so cheerful.

But like her parents keep telling her, it's better for everyone if they never realise what their _real_ job is.

She waved at Steven until he entered a small house resembling a beach hut, before entering into her own home. She was hoping that they at least did a real dinner for her tonight, but she couldn't smell any cooking.

"Mom. Dad. I'm home." She called out as she walked into the living room. But she frowned as she saw them both busy looking over files and tapping at their computers. They didn't respond in any way to her. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" She called out louder.

"That's nice dear." Mom replied absentmindedly, scrolling through something. At least Dad was more attentive. He actually looked up and smiled at her.

"Hey kiddo." He said warmly, putting his papers to one side. "How was your day?"

"Good. I made a friend." She replied, sitting on his lap.

"That's great sweetie. What's their name?"

"Steven. He seems to know quite a few people round here. Everyone seemed happy to see him."

"Can he be trusted?" Mom cut in. _Oh, so_ _ **now**_ _you're paying attention. Big surprise there._

"I don't know. We've only hung out for half a day. But I don't think he's a ghoul if that's what you're asking. He's too… nice."

"Of course he isn't dear." Dad said, giving Mom a look. "Your mother's just concerned is all. Several ghouls appeared to be nice people right until they lured their targets into a trap. Though I still feel as though twelve is still a bit young for a Ghoul to try such things." That last bit had probably been more to himself.

"We went to have lunch at a busy café, and then we spent the rest of the day at the Arcade. Where everyone could see you." She decided to turn the conversation away from Steven. Before her parents started suggesting that he's a part of some secret plot to take over the world. "I thought you guys had the rest of the week to settle in before you had to start working."

"Sorry hon. Work needed us. A couple more Doves were lost after an encounter. We've been looking at their notes to figure out what happened to them." He waved at the papers surrounding them.

She frowned crossly. "Don't they have people to do that kind of stuff? So that you guys can focus on hunting down the bad people?"

"In the other Wards, they do. But the 20th Ward has been rather quiet for the last few years, and command decided to devote resources to place in more urgent need of them. So regrettably, _we_ have to do our own research."

She bit her lip as she considered asking. They usually bottled up about their work, figuring that she was too young to hear about the horrors they faced. But then, Dad has never been as chatty as he has been. If dangerous Ghouls were killing Doves, then she deserved to know about them. And there was no way they could hide this all from her. She was gonna find out _something_.

Might as well try.

"What do you think got them?" She asked.

"Ghouls, dear. And that's all I'm allowed to say about the matter." She sighed, disappointed. Just then, Mom's phone broke the silence. Mom quickly answered it as she left, probably to make sure she couldn't hear anything. Dad watched her leave before he leaned in. "Alright then. Your mother's gonna give me grief if she ever found out about this, but I'd rather you'd know than go out there defenceless." He wheeled the chair back towards his computer, bringing up a series of pictures and sketches. They showed three women of varying sizes and shapes. One was tall and skinny, another was short and round, and the third was muscular and curvy. "They're a gang of Ghouls known as the Crystal Gems. Crane, Puma, and Gauntlet. They were active over in the 13th Ward over a decade ago before deciding to move out. Thanks to a few sightings, we've tracked them down to this ward."

"Are they dangerous?" She asked.

He nodded. "Puma and Crane are the weakest, and they're both considered S class ghouls. Gauntlet is actually an SS class ghoul, and no investigator that's fought her has survived. I suppose that Arima could win, but frankly she hasn't been notorious enough to warrant his aid."

"Why not? You just said that they were dangerous."

"And they are. But they seem to focus on a more… symbiotic lifestyle than other Ghouls. When they living in the 13th Ward, they claimed protection of one of the slums down there. In return for driving out any ghouls that feasted on the people there, they would in turn help protect them if we ever showed up. It's actually rather interesting. They apparently felt enough empathy for another to not just pick the place dry."

"So what changed? It sounded like they had a good thing going."

"There was a fourth member of the gang. Their leader, Rose Knight. We haven't seen hide or hair of her in over a decade. So we think that something managed to kill her. Not that it made command any happier. She was a SSS class Ghoul. One of the strongest we've seen. The idea that something managed to kill her and we don't have a clue…"

"It's scary." She guessed.

"Exactly. Well, she was also the main reason the other gangs stayed out. When she left, we only had sightings of Gauntlet until they moved away."

"So if the agency's learnt so much about them, why aren't they going after them?"

He sighed. "Honestly? These guys have had quieter lives than most investigators. The Ghouls seem to be keeping their own in check somehow, and given how dangerous these three are they probably don't want to mess with them." His eyes gained a glint of steel. "Though if there's one of them I'd want to stop, it's the Puma. She eats incessantly. Our reports estimate that she eats more people than Crane and Gauntlet combined. She's a threat and a danger to everyone." He was about to say more, but they both heard footsteps approaching. Mom looked at them both with suspicion. Their unnatural smiles probably didn't help their case.

"What have you two been talking about?" She asked warily.

"Us? We've… ugh…" Dad was at a loss for words. Fortunately, Connie had a brainwave.

"We were just talking about the kinds of games available at the arcade. There's so many different kinds. I'm sure you guys would love them too if we went as a family." Mum narrowed her eyes, but apparently found it plausible. She gave them a tired smile.

"Maybe some time. Right now, you need to have your dinner and go to bed. It's getting late now. You'll find your dinner already in the microwave."

"Thanks Mom." She said dully.

* * *

Connie and Steven met up a few more times in the next couple of weeks. They hanged out, read books, and Steven introduced her to some of the other kids that lived in the area. She first met his dad, Greg Universe, a guy who had clearly gone to seed (though she never said that to his face). But he was always cheerful and caring to them, and had awesome guitar skills. He said that he had come here to be a rock star, but after Steven's mom, Rose Quartz, died, he just didn't have the drive anymore. Then they went to the local donut shop, where Lars and Sadie worked. Sadie was ok, but Lars seemed a bit of a jerk. Then it was to the Fryman family, but they were at work at their one man take out store. Then they talked to Jenny Pizza (what was with all the weird last names?) until her sister Kiki dragged her off to their pizza place. They even talked to Buck Dewey, before his dad arrived and started asking Steven to deliver a message to Pearl.

But now was the ultimate test. The most worrying meeting she had ever had to face.

"Come on Connie." Steven said as he walked up the path. "Pearl and the others are gonna love you. You'll be best friends in no time."

"I dunno Steven. What if you're wrong? It'd be pretty awkward hanging out if your… aunts don't really like me." She said sheepishly. _Especially since they never seem to actually work. Or go out. Or do_ _ **anything**_ _during the day._ She had made a few subtle inquiries about them, but no one really knew anything. They didn't even know their last name. Apparently Steven has been the most social of the whole family.

"Well Amethyst likes you."

"We barely even talked."

"I know. How skilful is that?" His eyes started shimmering with moistness. "Come on Connie. Please? I really want you to meet them."

She sighed. "Alright. Let's go meet the family."

"Yay!" He cheered, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the front door. He opened it with his hand. "Guys, I'm back. And I brought Connie." They heard the sound of something dropping, and a bit of muffled cursing. A thin woman with spiked peach hair and a gem on her forehead came racing round a set of stairs, looking at them in alarm. Her hand were covered in gloves stained red.

"Steven." She admonished him. "What have I said about bringing people in without informing us first?" Her eyes flitted over Connie and noticed her staring at her gloves. She pulled them off and threw them into the rubbish.

"Sorry Pearl." Steven replied, looking sadly at his feet. Pearl kept looking annoyed, but her expression softened as she saw Steven's distress.

"Aw, give it a rest Pearl." Amethyst said, looking at them from the couch. "So he brought his new friend over. Just let it go already. She's already here and we can't tell her to leave."

"Why not?" She phrased it as though it was a perfectly sensible question. Or if she was wondering if there was a new rule or something.

"Uh, because it's impolite? You really need to work on your social skills Pearl." And then Amethyst reached into the bin for the gloves and ate them whole.

The hope that Steven's family was _somewhat_ normal went flying out the window. Also, Connie decided that they were to _never_ meet her family.

"Ohhh kay." She said nervously, backing away. "Well, I don't mean to intrude on anything 'important'. So I guess I'll just…" She bumped into something solid. Something soft. Something alive. She looked up to see a woman in a red-and-dark red unitard and a big square afro looking down at her. She had her eyes covered with big sunglasses, and her jaw showed no expression.

"Hey." Connie said quietly.

"Garnet." Steven said loudly, hugging her leg. "How was work today?"

"Good." Garnet replied in a monotonous voice. "How are you Steven?"

"Great. But I think Pearl and Amethyst are scaring off Connie." Garnet kept staring at her, before looking up at the other two ladies. Connie turned to see them blushing in embarrassment, looking down at the floor.

"Hello Connie." Garnet said, before walking past her towards the others. "Amethyst, please stop eating out of the garbage. Pearl, say hello to Connie." She said all of that in the same monotone voice.

"Ah, yes. H-Hello, uh… Connie." Pearl said, walking towards her. She seemed really nervous in her presence.

"Hello." Connie said in return, holding out her hand. Pearl stared at it until the awkward moment became too much, and Connie retracted her hand. This was certainly a strange family. "Sooo… What were you doing… down there? In the basement. With those gloves."

"Oh. The basement? I… I was preparing some food for later. Sometimes we get bigger pieces and cut them down for more… normal sized meals." Pearl replied nervously.

"It sure seemed…" She searched for the right word. "…Messy."

"It was still rather… raw. And tender."

"And I like my meat bloody." Amethyst added.

"That too." Pearl amended. "Now then… uh… how about…?"

Steven gasped. "I almost forgot. It's Crying Breakfast Friends soon. Come on, we have to get the TV ready before it starts. Today's a new episode." He dragged Connie over to the living room, where a small old Television sat on the floor. Steven knelt down before it and started twisting at the dials. Static filled the screen, a program barely visible. "Connie, could you hit it near the left edge please?"

"Uh, sure." Not quite sure what he was doing, she gave it a good thump on the top. Sound started playing, amidst crying. They just made it. It was the opening for the show. "Wouldn't it be easier to invest in a newer TV?" She asked as she sat down.

"Aw, it's not so bad. We know all the quirks of this thing. By the way, if it starts playing sideways, you have to tilt it on its side until it fixes itself." He hummed along with the theme music, rocking side to side as he did so. She found it oddly endearing.

They were so busy watching the show that they didn't notice the looks the Gems gave the two of them.

* * *

It was dinner time by the time they were able to broach the subject. Connie had gone back home, and they were all sitting around a large platter of meat.

"Steven. I know you enjoy hanging out with the humans." Pearl started saying. "But there are still rules you have to follow in this house. And one of those is that you _have_ to let us know that we're having guests."

"Yeah Steven." Amethyst agreed. "If Connie looked down into the basement and saw Pearl carving up that Dove, she'd probably have to end up on the table. Pass me that femur?" Steven turned the platter until a cooked leg, heavily altered to resemble meat on a bone, was before Amethyst. She grabbed it by the exposed bone and started gnawing the meat off it.

"And no doubt her parents will end up looking at us first if she never comes back home. And as detectives, they could find out our secret." Garnet finished.

"I'm sorry guys. I just really like hanging out with Connie. And it wasn't like we were gonna go looking in the larder."

"We know you weren't Steven. But we have to be especially careful around the humans." Pearl said. "Hmm. Maybe it might be better to find other Ghoul children his age."

Amethyst snorted. "Good luck with that. Most of them are living on the street these days. I don't think there's many families still together."

"Is it really that bad out in the other wards? I thought everyone was doing pretty well in Nerima." Steven asked.

"We _are_. But that's only because we're very cautious. We have rules, we only gather food at irregular times and never too much. And we don't get close to our neighbours." Garnet started listing things off. "Most families get caught out because of the amount of food they have to collect; or because of nosy neighbours; or even because they end up getting sick after having human food."

"Of course, having _someone_ running stuffing her face isn't helping anyone." Pearl said frostily, grabbing the leg off Amethyst. The younger woman glared, but settled for her cup of coffee.

"What? I'm a growing woman."

"Steven's growing too, and yet he doesn't need to consume five times his body weight per sitting." She took a dainty bite from what was left of the leg. Just then, the phone started ringing. Garnet picked it up, listened to the other end, and then put it back down.

"That was Yoshimura. He said that there have been a few sightings of Nishio again. Apparently Riza's gone missing, and he's decided to muscle back in on his feeding grounds."

Pearl groaned. "That boy. I hope he isn't going to try and fight us again. The Nerima Ward is big enough for all of us, not just him." They headed to their rooms and returned with their masks in hand. "We're gonna go and have a word with him again. While we're gone I want you to finish off that homework I set you, make sure that your brush your teeth, and use plenty of mouthwash. I don't really know why, but human flesh leaves a weird scent after consumption."

"Aw. Can't I come with you guys? I even made my own mask." He rushed to his bedside cabinet, and pulled out a mask. It was pink, and shaped like a lion cub. "Tada. Behold Tiger Millionaire." He said proudly, putting the mask on.

The gems stared at him for several seconds. "Huh?" Amethyst said in confusion.

"Tiger Millionaire. Because I like tigers, and apparently money is really nice too." He explained.

"Steven." Pearl started awkwardly. "It's just not… things are a little dangerous right now. And Nishio's always been a bit…"

"He's a foolhardy idiot who bites off more than he can chew." Garnet explained. "Even though we'd outnumber him three to one, he would still likely be willing to fight to the death. And he's also willing to go after weaker targets. And you haven't even unlocked your kagune."

"Ah, lighten up Garnet. It's just Nishio. Between the three of us, we can handle him no sweat. And frankly, he's not gonna learn how to use his kagune by sitting on the sidelines. I mean, I learnt how to use mine when I was half his age."

"That was different Amethyst. _Things_ were different. Steven's not going to be living on the streets." Pearl said strongly.

"I know that Pearl. But _if_ the CCG find out about us, do you _really_ want Steven to be an easy target?" Her expression wavered, torn between two different desires to protect him.

"Fine." Garnet said, choosing for her. "You can come with us. But you have to obey us at all times. We tell you to stop, you stop. We tell you to move, you move. We tell you to run…"

"I start going as fast as I can." Steven finished.

"Exactly. And get something other than sandals on your feet. We're going to be doing a lot of running."

"Yay! Tiger Millionaire is on the loose!"

* * *

By the time Nishiki Nishio had gotten far enough away from Touka, his injuries had healed over. He growled to himself, hands clenched enough to draw blood. That stupid Anteiku bitch. Like they had any right to decide who hunted where. It was ghoul-eat-ghoul world out here, and only he strong would survive. The weak were just a waste of space. And those two guys were eating _his_ food supply. Was he really expected to just share it with them?

"I am going to put you in the ground, girl." He muttered. As he said that, something started tugging on his pants leg. He gave a short war cry as he twisted away, ready to attack. But he was surprised to see that it was just a kid wearing a pink lion mask. His mouth could be seen underneath the muzzle, and he was smiling at him. The only sign he was abnormal was a pink star-shaped pupil with black sclera.

A Ghoul child. But then why was only one of his eyes flaring? Why did the other one look normal?

"Hello." The boy said cheerfully. "Are you Nishio?"

"Who wants to know, brat?" Nishiki asked nastily. Dumb kid, moving in on _his_ turf. Hopefully a few nasty words will scare him off. "Haven't you heard? This is _my_ territory now."

"No it isn't. My aunts say that this place belongs to everyone. You're just being selfish by taking it all for yourself. But I'm sure that if we share, we could all get along." Nishiki stared at him in dumbfounded surprise before laughing loudly.

"Oh god. You're so…" But before he could start swearing, he felt a presence behind him. He turned to see a woman in a red bodysuit blocking his way, her face hidden by a large visor and a red-and-blue mouthplate. He turned again to see that the boy was now further away, now in the arms of a slender woman wearing a bird mask. And then a third woman dropped down next to him, wearing a purple tiger mask and her bikaku already out.

Though he acted tough, right now he wasn't ashamed to admit he was worried. He was surrounded by the Crystal Gems. Just one of them would've been a slight challenge to him. But all three? Even he couldn't pretend he could win.

"Hey Nishio." Puma said slyly. "Heard you're trying to muscle your way back into your old hunting grounds. And we also heard that you're being a hassle to any ghoul you find here."

"I had first claim to it." He said, trying to overwhelm them with bravado.

"And then Rize took it from you, and now she's dead. And that makes them fair game to everyone." Gauntlet retorted.

"Pfft. Try telling that to Anteiku. They just march right in here and start taking over, claiming everything for themselves."

"Because they can feed us without drawing undue attention." Crane said. "Whereas someone like you would likely end up causing a gang war because of your inability to understand when you've been beaten."

"I don't get beaten. I just decide to extend my good…" His boast was stopped as Puma lashed out, her foot slamming into his stomach. Damn she had a powerful kick. He was slammed against the wall hard enough to crack the stone. His eyes flared as he healed himself, a blue bikaku twirling around his leg. He yelled as he charged for Gauntlet, the easiest of the targets for him. His bikaku would tear through her rinkaku with ease. That was natural law. She couldn't hope to beat him.

Gauntlet twisted to the side and grabbed him by his shirt, slamming him into the ground before crushing his leg with her rinkaku. As he bit down a yell and started swearing, Puma landed on top of him. But she had been spinning her body like a buzz saw, her bikaku shredding his back like paper. It was all he could do to heal from it. He managed to break free of Gauntlet's grip, just in time for Crane to jump in. As he unravelled his bikaku to start lashing out, she sliced through it with her koukaku. Then as she turned, she fired a spike from the tip through his stomach. He fell down in pain.

So all in all, not one of his better fights.

"This is your only warning Nishio." Gauntlet said to him. "Learn to share, or we will force you out of the Ward. It'll be up to our mercy and your strength whether you leave with your life or not."

"…Fine." He muttered. "This place is the shits anyway." He limbed away from them, his body slowly healing over.

"Have a nice night." The boy called out to him. He wanted to snort at that. What an idiot. Seriously, doesn't that kid know anything about the world?

"Well that seemed easy." Steven said, as Nishio limbed away from them.

"We had him outnumbered." Pearl replied. "And given his strength, one of us would've been enough to stop him."

"Plus he was weakened. What did he mean by putting a girl into the ground?" Garnet mused.

"He sounded like he ran into Anteiku just before. Maybe Touka got in a fight with him or something." Amethyst said.

"But if Touka was going to talk to him, why did Yoshimura call us?" Pearl asked.

"He might not be aware that she did. They probably just ran into each other by accident. I can certainly see Nishio trying to force her out of his territory." Garnet guessed. "Either way, he shouldn't be a problem for a while, if at all. We should head back home now."

"Aw. But I didn't get to do anything." Steven groaned.

"And that's the way things should be. Let us do the dangerous fighting." Pearl tried to console him.

"But I wanna protect people like you guys do?" Amethyst started laughing, but tried to cover it with a coughing fit. It wasn't entirely successful.

"Oh Steven." Pearl removed her mask, her face split between concern and amusement. "That's not exactly what we do. We're out here fighting people to protect _ourselves_. It's only by sheer coincidence that human lives are saved too."

"Ghoul gang wars and hunting draw undue attention to this area." Garnet explained. "For the safety of every ghoul living here, we have to stop mindless hunting. But make no mistake; we're still considered monsters by people."

"But I thought that was what my Mom wanted us to do. Protect people. Show them that we can live side by side in harmony."

"Rose… your mother… She was… very idealistic. She saw the good in people, even when it wasn't truly there." Pearl said, almost choking up. "She meant well, but she refused to accept that our species will always be at war with each other. It's a nice thing to strive for, but unfortunately it's simply impossible. While there are exceptions, they are few and far in between. If a human became friends with a ghoul, they will _always_ turn on them. Because they think of us as inhuman." And with that, she put her mask back on and picked him up under her arm. They jumped away from rooftop to rooftop, heedless of the distance they needed to move.

But Steven was still thinking over everything Pearl just said.

* * *

"I can't believe that the arcade offers mopeds as prizes." Connie said as they left the arcade, another satisfied day of playing games. And their pockets and wallets much lighter.

"I still can't believe someone won enough tickets to get it in the first place." Steven said. He was almost certain that the kid had simply ripped the machine open, but he couldn't exactly accuse him without proof. "But who cares? At least _we_ had fun."

"True. And at least I stay out of my parents' hair for a while."

"Are they super busy or something?"

"You could say that. They had to get up late last night to go after a lead. Didn't come back home until this morning. Said hello, mumbled some stuff, and then headed off to bed. Well, after having a shower. They smelt like a garbage pile."

"Man, being a detective sounds hard. And not as glamourous as the movies make you think."

"Yeah." She agreed. She loved hanging out with Steven. He's always super nice and cheerful around her. Some thugs tried to push in while they were playing a game, and his sheer happiness made them give it back. Guess even hardened thugs couldn't stand up to someone like him. And just last week, when they bought some ice cream and hers was knocked out of her hands, he went back and bought another for her.

He was the bestest friend ever, and she was glad she met him on that first day. As she thought that to herself, she found the crowd before them coming to a halt.

"What the…? What's going on?" She asked, trying to see. But a twelve-year-old was far too short to see over taller adults.

"Dunno. Let me try something." Steven ran off to the side, climbing up onto some rubbish bins before using them to get himself onto the roof. Wow, he was a lot more athletic than he appeared. After looking carefully at what was causing the hold up, he dropped back down and walked over to her. "There's a big car crash. The sidewalks are closed, and the rescue crew are directing people to go other ways. It blocks off our way home completely."

"Great." Connie tsked. "Now how are we gonna get home in time? I promised them that I'd get back by 5." She knew they'd give her a chewing out if she got home late. And they might restrict her time with Steven. And she didn't want that.

"Then I guess we've just gotta take the longer way around. Come on." He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a series of alleys nearby.

"You sure you know where to go? That looks pretty confusing." She said warily. And it was darker than the streets.

"It'll be fine. We just keep trying to go east, and we'll be home in no time. Trust me."

"Alright." She said, following him. They made some good progress, his lucky turns always seemingly going the right way.

But then they found themselves in front of a dead end.

"Ok. We'll start heading back and take the next path east then. We'll still make it there in time. Promise." But she was starting to get worried. It was spooky in here, and she kept recalling her parents warning her of recent ghoul activity. As far as their research could tell them, they were trying to capitalise on the disappearance of the Binge Eater Ghoul.

"Maybe we should just head back and try a different way." She said nervously. "I don't like this. I feel… I feel like we're being watched." Steven turned to look at her, his face nervous. He bit his lip before nodding his head. But when they stepped back into the previous alley, there was a hooded man standing in their way. He had a mask resembling a flayed face.

A ghoul.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here." He said. A sound from behind them alerted them to another ghoul dropping down from above, also wearing the same mask. "Looks like that plan worked. Guess you were right Flayed Girl."

"Told you we could herd them here with a crash." The other ghoul said, her voice more feminine. "A bit on the small side though."

"Ah well. They'll still be a bit of a meal for us at least."

"Connie." Steven whispered to her. "When I give the signal, grab my hand and don't let go."

"Signal? What signal?" She whispered back.

"Hey!" The ghoul shouted, startling them. "It's not polite to whisper when there are others around you. Why don't you come closer and tell us what you said?"

"… **RUN!** " Steven yelled, grabbing Connie by the hand and rushing away. He was moving fast enough to nearly take her off her feet, and when the Flayed Girl tried to grab them he somehow jumped over her. Connie barely found her feet in time to stop herself from skidding against the ground. They were barely keeping track of where they were going now. They took a left, then a right, then left, then left again, a straight path… It was like a maze down here. They turned the next corner to see another masked ghoul before them, snacking on some poor woman. He was ripping her throat out with his teeth, her glassy eyes watching them.

Connie couldn't help herself. She vomited right there and then. The ghoul looked up, blood caked around his mouth. He smirked at them before charging for them.

" **AWAY!** "Steven yelled again, running in the other direction. The sound of clattering tiles made her look up to see half a dozen ghouls jumping overhead, cutting them off. This was insane! All this work for just the two of them? They couldn't have enough meat between them to feed more than one ghoul. Steven turned away as they blocked their path, heading in another direction. She was lost in here. She had no idea where they were.

Well, she found out quickly enough. They were at another dead end. A dozen ghouls were walking down after them, laughing and making horrible threats. Tears ran down her cheeks as she lamented her life. Nobody but her parents were even going to notice that she was gone. She would be just another lost child, if she was lucky. If not, no one would ever find her remains. This wasn't fair. This just wasn't fair.

"Connie. Connie, look at me." She looked up to see Steven staring into her eyes, tears welling up. "We'll get through this. I don't know how, but we will."

"Aw, isn't that cute. The little guy's trying to protect his girlfriend." It was the first ghoul again. "But you know, you shouldn't lie to people. That's a naughty thing. And naughty children end up **dead**!" As he said that last part, his kagune lashed out, a spiked tentacle. Connie screamed as Steven held her close, his back to the ghoul. She closed her eyes as she waited for the pain.

She heard the sound of hardened material clashing, as loud as a bell. But when nothing started hurting, she opened her eyes in surprise. The ghoul had been knocked back somehow. And sprouting from Steven's back was a… was a…

It was a kagune, shaped like a rose. The edge curled round and round, taking up the entire wall and covering every inch of them. She felt a shiver of fear running down her spine. Only ghouls had kagune. Steven had a kagune. Therefore, Steven…

Was a ghoul.

"What the hell? What's a ghoul doing with a human?" The man said angrily. Evidently, he didn't like being made a fool of. He lashed out with his rinkaku again, but it kept glancing off Steven's ukaku. The edges closed together whenever his kagune got close, acting as a shield. The ghoul growled angrily. "Alright, fuck this shit. Everyone, start tearing through that thing. We'll rip the human apart and leave the traitor in a puddle of his own shit." The ghouls started unleashing their kagune, firing off blasts and slamming into the ukaku. It closed up tightly to block all attacks, but she could still see him shuddering under the blows. It wasn't going to last. It wasn't going to last.

But then they heard the sound of something slicing, and then something wet hitting the ground. All the attacks stopped. His ukaku opened up to reveal a tall, slender woman standing next to a shorter purple-skinned lady. The head ghoul was… well, missing his head.

Pearl and Amethyst. And the koukaku spiralling down her arm marked Pearl as a ghoul too. The Crane. Of course. It seemed so obvious now. How could she have not realised it before?

"You leave those two children alone at once." Pearl was saying, her voice clear despite the mask she likely wore. "They are under our protection. Go back to your Wards and never return."

"Yeah." Amethyst agreed. "Or else we'll make sure you never trouble anyone else again." She slammed her fists together.

Silence. And then the ghouls started laughing.

"I don't know if you two ever learnt to count, but there's way more of us than there are of you." Flayed Girl said. "I think it's time we take you both down a few pegs. And then Anteiku might start get the idea that they're nothing but has-beens. It's our time now, and they'd better do as we say."

"And what makes you think you're a match for us?" Amethyst said, before shouting at the top of her lungs and lunging forward. She lashed out with her bikaku, while Pearl jumped over her and started jabbing people with it. A spike of RC Cells blossomed from her koukaku, blasting holes through ghouls as they jumped around. They were working… somewhat well together, both trying to cover each other. But there were just too many of them, and they weren't working in sync. Pearl was pierced through the arm by someone's ukaku, while Amethyst was getting shredded by someone else's rinkaku as a ghoul held her down. And another was charging for _them._ His fists slammed against the ukaku, before he managed to get his fingers in between a gap. His rinkaku jabbed in, forcing it open even further. Connie screamed as he leered down at them.

"Here's…" A large spike stabbed through his throat, splattering blood before he was thrown aside. Steven nearly collapsed as his ukaku shrunk down, out of energy to sustain. Pearl and Amethyst stood between them and the ghouls again, both sporting several wounds.

"I think they might've had a slight point before." Amethyst said, as the ghouls jeered at them. "We've only got until they boost their morale before they come back for round two."

"Then we've got no choice." Pearl replied. "Puma, I know we don't do it all that well. But if we don't at least try, Ste… these two will get eaten alive."

Amethyst sighed. "Alright. I'll give it a shot. But you've gotta give as much as I do. No slacking off."

"Right." The gems on their bodies started glowing, and then their bodies turned into a deep red. Everyone looked on in surprise as their forms wavered and then melted together, reforming into something else. When the red shell faded, there was another woman standing in the alley. She was at least 12 feet tall, with over half of that being her legs. She wore long brown leggings and an aquamarine tube top with a long sash. She had four royal-blue arms, and large white hair in a ponytail. She turned slightly, and Connie could see that her face was covered by a bird-themed mask, a lot like Crane's. She turned back to the ghouls.

"Leave. Now." The woman said, her voice much deeper than Pearl or Amethyst. Even deeper than Garnet.

"What the fuck…?" Someone said softly. But Flayed Girl growled.

"I don't know what the fuck is going on, but we're not gonna back down because you say so. Tear her limb from limb." The ghouls cheered. The woman didn't say anything, just unleashed her kagune. A single koukaku erupted from her shoulder, resembling a bladed insect leg, while a bikaku twirled around her legs. She moved forward incredibly fast, lashing out with her kagune and knocking most of them backwards. The few she didn't laid dead at her feet. She jumped back again, and this time her bikaku started intertwining with her koukaku. It wrapped around the tip of the koukaku before tying itself round the base, resembling some warped bow. Two arms pulled back on the bikaku, while a large red arrow grew from her third hand. She then placed it within her other hands and grabbed the koukaku, actually treating it like a bow. The ghouls charged forward again, confident that she could only hit them one at a time.

But when the arrow was fired, it shattered into a dozen smaller arrows. They pierced through the ghouls, tearing through their heads and hearts, leaving broken corpses in their way. She moved as if to form a second arrow, but it wasn't necessary. The ghouls were all dead.

Now that the danger had passed, Connie found herself hyperventilating. She pulled herself free of Steven, who was still looking at the tall woman. She pulled him into a warm embrace, before he turned to see Connie pressed up against the wall. She was shaking wildly.

"Connie…" He started saying.

"You…" She whispered. "You're a ghoul. Your family are all ghouls." Tears ran down her cheeks. She trusted him. He was her bestest and only friend. And he was actually a monster. A flesh-eating, horrific murdering monster.

"Connie, please. Stay calm. It's ok. We're not bad people." He started walking towards her, slowly. Like a frightened animal. "I'm still the same, lovable guy you…"

"Get away from me!" She screamed at him, slapping away his hand. Her fight-or-flight instincts kicked into overdrive, and she ran screaming from the alleyway. She didn't care that she was likely about to be shot by an arrow. Didn't care that they knew where she lived. All she cared about was getting out of there as fast as her legs could carry her.

And all she could think about was that she was truly alone in the world now.

* * *

 **Uh oh. Poor Connie. Poor Steven. Will he have to move now? Will the CCG come after him now? We'll just have to find out.**

 **The idea that Connie would find out about Steven being a Ghoul was one I was always going to use. As was having her find out when he uses his kagune for the first time and then have Pearl and Amethyst jump in to save them before becoming Opal. How, you might ask? Ghoul Gems people. That's my answer for any weird things they do. Pearl firing a spike from her koukaku? Ghoul Gem. Steven using an ukaku as a shield? Ghoul Gem. Also, him having an ukaku is what prpldragonart wrote down, so of course I'm going to use it.**

 **I included the fight with Nishio to show that it's happening at the same time as Tokyo Ghoul. Ken's adventures are just going to be cameos and stuff though. Not too sure if Steven's going to meet Ken. Who knows? He might just be the one good thing in his new Ghoul life. I had Nishio getting his ass handed to him so easily because even though according to the wiki he's rated S, I figured that's from his more recent appearances where he's Orochi than at the start. Besides, it's three against one.**

 **And we met the Flayed Ones, a ghoul gang trying to muscle in. We might hear a bit more from them, but mainly in the sense of how many of them did each Gem kill.**

 **Edit: Changed the visual effects of Fusion since after a while it didn't quite feel right to me. I realised that it's probably more like joining RC cells than anything else.**


	3. What is True and What is False?

**Chapter 3: What Is True And What Is False?**

Connie was standing before Steven's home. He had invited her over for dinner, and said they had a special meal planned just for her. She skipped merrily down the footpath to the house, not noticing that everyone else had vanished suddenly. "Steven, I'm here." She called out as she entered. But the living room was empty. Luckily, there was a sign just for her. A sign directing her down into the basement.

 _Don't go into the basement._

She stopped humming as she walked into the house. Something didn't feel right. It had suddenly gone from a nice sunny day to overcast. An orange glow painted everything in the house in reddish colours. Nothing outside was making any noises. No cars, no animals, not even people. Something kept trying to lead her away, but a greater feeling pulled her down the stairs. They creaked ominously as she went down, going down and down and down forever. It grew even darker with each step, until the only dim light was the eerie glow of candles. She was starting to get scared now. Something didn't feel right. But eventually her foot found the ground. The cold, damp, _squishy_ ground. "Steven?" She called out nervously. "Are you down here?" She walked forward, a glowing candle lighting the way. Red arrows led her further in, until she lost sight of the stairs. "Steven, this isn't funny. I'm going back upstairs." She called out, hoping that he'd answer her. But there was nothing. She turned around to see that the candles had all gone out. "Steven?" She said in fear. She flinched as a bright light lit up behind her. Twisting round again, there was a large table with something covered by a sheet. Two large somethings from the look of it. Rusted cleavers and knives were stabbed into the table around the sheet. Something called her to look under it. She could no more resist it than she could resist her own heart beating. Reaching out to the sheet, she stopped when it started moving. Was there something alive under it? She was about to back away when a hand erupted from the sheet. A dark-skinned hand. A familiar hand.

The sheet was thrown away, and she froze in terror.

"Connie." Her father whispered. His chest had been ripped open, his organs on display. She could see his heart beating wildly, while his left arm had been ripped away. Beside him was Mom's dead body, her head lying separate from her body. "Run."

She didn't need telling twice. She pulled free of his grip and headed right back for where she thought the stairs were. As she ran, she found herself stumbling over things. Looking down, she saw blood pooling around her boots and body parts lying everywhere. Lars and Sadie. The Frymans. The Pizzas. Buck Dewey and his son. Everyone she knew was down here, dead as can be. And bite marks covered their bodies.

A loud hiss made her look back. Pearl was crouched over one of the bodies, tearing away at it and stuffing her face. When she looked up, black, soulless eyes with white irises glared at her. She rose to a massive height, all triple-jointed limbs and arched spines, a long rotting tongue slithering from her mouth. She screeched at Connie as the scared little girl started running again. Please let her find the exit. Please oh please oh please… She screamed as something jumped in front of her, blocking her path. It was a tiger of some sort with purple irises and a long jewelled tail. It growled deeply, a hand hanging from its maw. It lashed out with its claws, slicing into Connie's arm. She screamed again as she ran in a different direction. Gotta get away, gotta get away… She spotted some crates not far from where she was, and she ran to hide behind them. She saw the shadows of the monsters… Of Pearl and Amethyst run past, blood dripping from their mouths. She breathed a sigh of relief.

And then the crates exploded. She screamed as she rolled away, just in time to avoid two massive fists. She looked up to see Garnet standing overhead, her hand massive gauntlets and two red eyes glaring at her. Fangs erupted from her mouth as she lunged at her. But Connie rolled away again, noticing something in the background. The stairs. The stairs. She was almost free. She was going to make it. She ran up the stairs just in time to crash into Steven. But he was far sturdier than any boy his age should've been. She would've bounced right off him if he didn't grab her painfully in her arms.

"Hey there Connie. Whatcha running for?" He said cheerfully.

"Steven…" She squeaked. "Y-Y-Your aunts… They're… They're… They're ghouls!"

Steven nodded, opening his eyes again to reveal one of his irises shaped like a pink star. "I know. And guess what? You're the special dinner." He opened his mouth far wider than anything could have, fangs jutting from everywhere like some horrifying mangled shredder. She could only scream as he bit deep into her shoulder, his aunts crowding around them.

And then they were upon her.

* * *

She woke up with a strangled scream, body dripping with sweat and shivering in fear. She sat there, panting for breath and trembling before her body finally started to calm down. Her fingers bit into her palms as she reminded herself of where she was. She was at home, in her own bed. Her parents were still alive, no one was missing, and nothing was going to attack her.

Except perhaps Steven's family. That part had been _mostly_ true. She shivered again as she remembered that. Steven was a ghoul. His family were ghouls. She had been with a ghoul so many times and never realised it.

" _Remember, when ghouls are fed they can perfectly mimic a normal human." Her father warned her. "Because of that, Investigators end up spending weeks or even months before they finally engage a ghoul, just in case it's actually a human. Anyone, no matter how unsuspecting, can be investigated."_ That was one of the things her parents drilled into her. But she never expected them to be so… ordinary. _Well, I wouldn't exactly call Steven ordinary,_ she thought wryly. _He's more… extraordinary._ But that didn't change the fact that he was a man-eating murderous monster. When she got home that night, the night they were attacked and she found out, she had told her parents everything about the attack. They had set out to round up the last of the gang, the Flayed Ones, and take them down. But for some reason, when she went to talk about Steven, her throat just wouldn't work. She just couldn't get the words out, or write them down, or anything. As of right now, her folks weren't aware that four ghouls lived just down the road from them.

Why couldn't she say anything? Why couldn't she tell them? They had to know. Everyone had to know that there were monsters living amongst them right now. But her mind flashed to the smiling, happy boy who became her friend. She opened her curtains to see that it was still dark outside. She could barely see Steven's house, all dark and dreary. They had vanished the day after the Flayed Ones attacked her. Everyone was getting worried about them, scared that ghouls had gotten them. Some other investigators had gone to look inside for evidence of foul play. But they found nothing. No clues, no strange meats. They didn't even find anything in the basement, which she was certain was where they would carve up people. She trembled as she remembered her nightmare. They ran because they feared she would tell people. As she would expect herself to do. So why didn't she?

 _Because that would mean that the nicest kid on the block, the only friend I've ever had, would be gone forever._

She rolled over again, trying her best to go back to sleep. But she just couldn't push her only friend from her mind.

* * *

Dad sighed as he dug into his breakfast. "Well, the Flayed Ones aren't going to a problem anymore." He said. "We're reasonably certain that every last one of them has 'disappeared'. Good riddance I say." He yawned in exhaustion. Not that Connie was feeling much better. Her late night worries were really starting to pile up on her. "Still, something felt weird about this one."

"What makes you say that?" She asked. She could always try these kinds of questions with Dad. Mom would _never_ indulge them.

"Well, part of it is that the Flayed Ones have never really been this organised before. At least not enough to herd people towards them. But they probably got a new leader or something. Nobody's seen Shredder for weeks now, and the Binge Eater moved into his turf a while back. But what's really puzzling is that we found evidence that plenty of Flayed Ones were killed by ghouls. In fact, one agent saw them in action. From his description, we're almost certain that it were the Crystal Gems. Don't know why they're cleaning up the place, but I'm not complaining."

 _I know why. Because they're going after the people who ruined their cover._ But then that meant they could be going after her next. She knew she had to say something. Instead, she filled her mouth with cereal until the urge passed her.

"Did you find anything… unusual at Steven's place?" She asked. "Any secrets in… like the basement?"

"No." Dad admitted. "There's no sign of forced entry, a fight, killing, or anything. It's like the Universe family just left. There wasn't even anything in the basement, where ghouls usually like to collect their meals before running." He smiled at her. "Don't worry. I'm sure your friend is perfectly safe."

 _It's not_ _ **him**_ _I'm worried about. It's me._ But she still couldn't say it. Dad kissed her on the top of her head and grabbed his jacket, heading in for work. Mom had already gone an hour early, wanting to catch the Gems in the act. Bring them down once and for all. She was left alone in the house. And the moment Dad head off down the road, she locked all the doors and windows. It might not stop a Ghoul, but it made her feel safer. Then she headed upstairs to read, and take her mind off what was likely waiting for her.

All that went out the window when she saw practically everyone on the street crowding around Steven's place. Curiosity piqued, she raced out the front door and ran to meet with everyone else. After pushing politely through the crowd, she made it to the front. And froze in fear.

"…was so worried about you when you vanished." Dewey was saying, tears running down his cheeks. He was shaking Pearl's hand like his life depended on it. "I mean, we all were worried. About all of you. We thought that a Ghoul had gotten you in the night. You've been gone for _days_."

"It's alright." Pearl replied calmly, trying to extract her hand from his grip. "Amethyst's uncle was very sick, and she needed to go and meet him before his untimely demise to discuss the will. It was rather… short notice."

Amethyst was leaning against the railing next to her, blowing some gum. "I got an old shoe. And that was it." She said. Garnet didn't say anything though. She was just staring at Connie the whole time, expression unreadable. Connie got a shiver up her spine, and backed away slowly. Only once she had gotten free of the crowd did she finally run pell-mell for her home. This time, she locked the doors extra securely and hid beneath her covers.

" _When Ghouls are discovered, there are only two options for them. Run away and set up somewhere else; or silence anyone who might tell us about them."_ That was what Dad told her.

They came back. They weren't running away. So that meant… That meant…

They were going to kill her.

* * *

 **(Days Earlier)**

"This… Is… Terrible!" Pearl fretted as they walked back home, mask hanging from her hand. "This is _beyond_ terrible. A human found out our identities. Our lives are at risk every second she's around. She's probably talking to the CCG right this second." She started hyperventilating, but took a deep calming breath. "No. Calm down Pearl. Even with that head start there's no way she could've gotten in contact with them so quickly. They would need proof beyond a frightened child. We can still fix this. We'll just have to go for Emergency Plan Delta."

"Is that the one with the fighting, or the one with the crocodile?" Amethyst asked.

" _Definitely_ not the latter. Plan Delta is that Connie and her family will just mysteriously… disappear. Amethyst, you'll eat the evidence. We'll burn everything you can't digest." Amethyst nodded in agreement. Steven gasped as he realised what Plan Delta was.

"Pearl, you can't." He pleaded. "Connie's my friend. Friends don't eat friends."

"Steven." Pearl said harshly, before trying for a more gentle tone. "I know that the human _was_ your friend. But as long as she's in a position to report our identities to the CCG, our lives are in danger. We have no choice. She simply _must_ be stopped, no matter what."

"Can't we just ask her nicely to not tell anyone?"

Amethyst snorted. "Oh yeah. That'll solve _all_ our problems. No one's ever thought about being polite to a human about to rat them out the CCG."

"Steven, we've made certain that you never truly see what happens when the CCG find ghouls. But we have. We've faced them before. They will show no mercy to us. To you. We're just monsters to them, and they _will_ do everything in their power to kill us.

But Steven was adamant. "No way. No one's eating nobody. Connie is my best friend. I trust her with my life."

"Uh, Steven? We've kinda shown her that you've been lying to her this whole time." Amethyst said. "Any trust between you guys probably went out the window. Better to get her now, before she gets us killed."

"Thank you Amethyst." Pearl said gratefully. "We'd better hurry though. If her parents really are detectives, then they'll have credibility with CCG. We get to her before she finds them, we can minimise the amount of collateral we need to destroy." They moved to run, but Pearl stopped as she realised that Steven wasn't with them. He looked up at her with angry tears, hands trembling.

"If… If you guys eat Connie… I'll… I'll… I'll tell on you to the CCG." He said defiantly. Pearl gasped in shock.

"Steven! That's a _horrible_ thing to say!" She said angrily.

"Yeah." Amethyst agreed. "Low blow."

"Eating Connie is a horrible thing too." And Steven pushed past them both, running as fast as he can back home. Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other in worry before racing after him. They both easily outpaced him, more in tune with their enhanced natures. They both left him in the dust. Though they cared about him and wanted him to be happy, his protection and their own was more important. He will hate them for it, but at least he will be safe.

As they passed by the house though, they were blocked by Garnet. She held her arms out wide, intention clear. This was not by chance.

"Garnet." Pearl moaned, trying to move around her. "Ugh. We _need_ to get past. The human girl…"

"Connie." Garnet interrupted. "Her name is Connie, Pearl. And I _know_ that she found out what we are."

"Then you'll understand that stopping her is paramount. She'll tell everyone our identities, and we'll be on the run for the rest of our lives."

"No. We won't. She won't tell anyone about us." Pearl stopped, as if Garnet's certainty was a brick wall in her path. She frowned at her, somewhat understanding.

"You saw this already?" She asked. That was the gift that Garnet had, the gift of being a Ghoul Gem. Pearl had her projections. Amethyst had her shapeshifting.

Garnet… could see the future.

A single nod was her only response. Pearl frowned deeper, but finally backed away. Though she loathed leaving their lives to chance, in the hands of someone else, Garnet had hardly ever been wrong before. She could win the lottery if she felt the urge to do so. By now, Steven had finally caught up with them. Breathing heavily, sweating, completely tired… but he didn't let that hold him back.

"Garnet." He called out. "Connie saw my kagune, and she realised that we're all ghouls, and now Pearl and Amethyst want to…" Garnet silenced him by placing a finger on his lips. She gave him a calming smile.

"Steven." She said. "Pack your bags. We're going to have to leave here for a while. Just until everything blows over." And she sounded so certain, so sure, that Steven instantly believed her.

"Really? So… So we can go without hurting Connie?" He looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes.

"Of course Steven. Don't worry. We won't touch her." She looked up at Pearl and Amethyst. Pearl looked away with a huff. Really now, it was simply common sense in the face of highly likely danger. Was it really so wrong to want to silence a threat? "Pearl." Garnet interrupted her glowering. "Help Steven get himself ready. Amethyst and I will clean out the basement."

"Alright. But just remember to hide the loose floorboards under the crates this time. The last thing we need is for someone sneaking in to find our food supply. That's what forced us to move that last time." She gave Amethyst a look.

"What? I ate him, didn't I?" She asked in confusion, moving past her to grab the bucket and the hose.

It took them an hour, but they had effectively vanished into the night.

* * *

Touka was surprised to open Anteiku's door to find the Gems waiting outside. They were carrying several bags, as though they had to leave their home in a hurry.

Leave their home… Her heart dropped.

"Get inside. Quickly." She said hurriedly, looking past them to see if she could spot any Doves. It wasn't until the coast was clear and she had locked the door before she started asking important questions. "How were you guys found out? Are you being chased? Should we all start leaving?"

"No, you don't need to start running." Garnet said in that calm tone of hers. "We had to save Young Connie from the Flayed Ones. _That's_ how we got discovered. We'll just give her a few days to calm down, and then we'll be back home again."

"You left the kid alive? Are you crazy?" Touka said in shock. "The smart thing to do is to _silence_ _her_ as soon as possible."

"Thank you." Pearl said. "See? It's simply common sense."

"She won't tell anyone." And Garnet said it so surely, that Touka could almost believe her.

That said, she felt that it would be best to sneak out and deal with Connie before she brings the Doves down on everyone in the Ward.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Steven asked, sitting on one of the couches and kicking his feet.

"Once we've all had some late night dinner, Pearl, Amethyst and I are going to deal with the Flayed Ones. We can't have more events like this again. Steven, you'll be staying here with Yoshimura and Touka. If you have any questions, ask them about it." Garnet said. She walked over and ran her fingers through his hair. "With any luck, we'll be back by tomorrow morning for breakfast."

Pearl leaned in and kissed the top of his head. "Be good for Touka. Don't stay up too late. Make sure that you're clean and tidy before bed. We don't want bloodstains on the bedsheets now, do we?"

"No Pearl." Steven replied. He followed the Gems into the kitchen, leaving Touka with the bags. Her body ran on autopilot, grabbing the bags and dragging them to free rooms left for Ghouls in need of a safe haven. But her mind was awhirl with worry. Someone _knew_ their identities. Knew their real names and faces. The Gems had always been a bit more lax about their identities (Garnet kept wearing the same glasses all the time), but this was beyond even them. And her best suggestion was to just wait it out? As if the human wouldn't tell the Doves about them?

No. She already learnt what humans do when they learn someone is a ghoul. If Garnet, Pearl, or Amethyst didn't have the guts to do what needed to be done…

Then it was up to her.

* * *

She had to wait for over an hour before she could finally slip away. An hour to make sure that the Gems had really left, for Steven to finish his dinner and be put to bed. An hour that she couldn't afford to waste. After hanging up her apron, she quickly put her hood and wig on, readying to wear her mask as soon as she had left the café.

She made it all of four steps past the accommodations area before a chill went down her spine.

"Going somewhere Touka?" Yoshimura asked kindly, not at all worried. "Perhaps to deal with something you shouldn't be messing with?"

She turned to face him, mask still in hand. "How can you condone their actions? By leaving this witness alive, they're risking _all_ our lives. Not just their own. We can't _afford_ to just sit back and let them be. To be so…"

"Idealistic?"

"Naïve." She decided. Her words caused Yoshimura to smile.

"Naïve? That's an interesting choice, given how you live amongst humans too. In my opinion, you're as likely to be found out as they are. And yet you still continue to socialise with the humans."

She looked away. "That's different. I'm highly careful with everything I do. I don't let _anyone_ find out the truth." She felt him place and hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him. Instead of looking angry or fearful or anything she'd expect, he still seemed calm. Like this didn't matter to him.

"Now Touka. I've known Garnet and her fellow Gems longer than you have. And one thing I've learnt is that Garnet has an amazingly good sense of what the future holds. She's always been able to avoid ambushes, traps, and even find the most precise path through Dove infested areas."

She felt like snorting. "What, she can see the future?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe she just has exquisite intuition. Who can say what strange gifts the Gems have?" He shrugged. "Honestly though, the distinction is minimal. If she says that it will be ok to leave the human witness alive, then it will be alright."

"What if she's wrong? She can't be right _all_ the time." Can she? Is it _really_ possible that she's somehow able to see the future?

"It's simply a question of whether or not you trust her. _I_ trust her intuition. Do you trust me?" Her throat caught at those words. She wanted to say yes, that she'd always trust him… But the idea that she could see the future was ludicrous. Every part of her said that Garnet was wrong. "Just think on it for tonight. I always find that a good night's rest help me see things in ways I never could before." He flipped her hood back and ruffled her wing, before heading back into the accommodations area. She turned to look at the door outside, biting her lip nervously.

Should she trust her own judgment, or someone else's?

* * *

It was three days before the Gems returned, looking beat up and tired. They came through the back door, eagerly accepting the plates of meat that Yoshimura had readied for them. Touka watched them as they ate, mind still whirling. She still wasn't sure if she had made the right call. The only thing stopping her from going out again was the no Doves had been reported near the café. Heading into Flayed territory yeah, but not close to here. And a couple of regular ghouls had said that they saw the Gems attacking people wearing flayed masks.

Once the Gems had eaten their fill, they crashed in the rooms assigned to them. They were out within minutes. She felt the same. Three nights she spent there, only leaving to go to school and back. Three nerve-wracking nights waiting for the CCG to attack them. Her nerves were frayed, her paranoia was at its highest, and she just wanted to do _something_ to take the edge off.

But first, she needed to have a proper sleep.

* * *

Steven was busy playing his ukulele when Pearl walked into the room, carrying a plate of carefully selected meat. She always preferred to treat her meals like actual meals, with less blood dripping and using cutlery (unlike Amethyst, who always liked her meat bloody). She ate in silence, while Steven felt the question that had been plaguing him for days bubbling under the surface. His playing became distracted, erratic, as he fought impatience. Finally though, he couldn't keep it bottled up anymore.

"Pearl?" He asked nervously. She looked up from her meal, placing the cutlery down gently and pushing the plate to one side, giving him her full attention. "What… exactly… did you and Amethyst do… when you rescued me? You know, how you both changed into a new lady? A tall lady?"

Pearl nodded, understanding. "I see. Part of me wondered if you were going to ask about that." She took a deep breath. "Steven, as you already know, us Ghoul Gems have strange abilities that other ghouls don't possess. One of those abilities is a 'fusion ability' if you will."

"What's fusion?"

"Well, our bodies are made entirely of RC cells. Fusion is when we combine those cells together into a singular entity, giving us a wider range of abilities and greater strength. Though there is the possibility that a fusion could _weaken_ the final result."

"Wow." Steven said, missing that last part. "You mean that you guys could become stronger at any time?"

"Not just any time." Pearl admonished. "Fusion is more than just melding our bodies together. It also requires melding our minds too, to create something more, something… new. Opal, the fusion between me and Amethyst, is her own person. Of course, such…" She seemed to search for the right word. "…intimate fusion requires both partners to be on the same wavelength." Steven kept staring at her in confusion. "It's like being in a dance. You aren't two separate people anymore. You are intertwined together and moving as one whole being." She gave off a heartfelt sigh. "That's what Fusion is like."

"I… don't quite follow." Steven said honestly.

"Well, it's not exactly something you can accurately describe. Just think of it as a way to give us an edge if we need it."

"So... Could I do it if I wanted?"

"Hm. Possibly. But you can't force it. You need to build a bond with someone, not including the melding. Besides, only Ghoul Gems can do it. I'm not actually too sure if a half Gem fusion is even possible."

"Oh. Ok." He went back to strumming his ukulele. "So what are we gonna do now?"

"Well, we've pretty much wiped out the Flayed Ones now. All we _can_ do is lay low until the CCG writes this off as Ghoul infighting and move off. And until Garnet says it's safe to move back."

"In that case…" He dropped his ukulele and crawled onto the couch with Pearl. "Can you _please_ teach me how to do fusion? Pretty please?"

"Well, we _are_ going to be here for a few days. I suppose that it couldn't hurt to show you the basics." Pearl mused. "Of course, this is with the understanding that you're hardly going to end up in another situation where you'll be needing it. Right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now how do we start? Do we concentrate really hard? Do we hold hands? Ooh, ooh. Do we have to do a special dance?" Steven asked excitedly.

"In a way. We've found that the _best_ way to start is with dancing. That's how…" She looked away. "That's how we found out about it in the first place. Rose and I were dancing, and then we became of one mind." She sighed in sadness, before turning back to Steven and wiping away a tear. "Of course, an enemy isn't going to just stand back and let us dance away. But once you've achieved fusion through dancing, it becomes much easier to do at will. I'll go get Amethyst and Garnet to help out."

"Yay!" Steven cheered. "This is going to be so amazing."

* * *

But unfortunately, after several hours of practising, all he really learnt was that he wasn't as coordinated as the Gems. He wasn't able to keep up with them, able to stay in rhythm with them, couldn't match up their moves… There was always one thing or another that caused everything to be a bit out of sync. He even tried hugging Amethyst tightly, as though he could squeeze their RC cells together. But even _that_ didn't work.

"Oh, don't worry too much about it Steven." Pearl said in an attempt to cheer him up. "Fusion's always been a bit… difficult. It took Amethyst months before she could do it."

"Yeah." Amethyst agreed. "You just need to find someone you're comfortable with. Or get into a situation where it's _really_ life or death…"

" _Thank you_ Amethyst." Pearl said coldly. "But I doubt Steven's _ever_ going to end up in one of those scenarios ever again." They jumped as they heard the door slam, getting out their kagune as they ran to see what it was. They were surprised to see that it was Touka, carrying to people under her arms. Both were unconscious and injured. The one under her left arm smelt human, but the one under her right smelt like a ghoul. Did this human injure him somehow?

"Hey Touka. What's with the fast food?" Amethyst asked cheerfully. But Touka wasn't in the mood.

"Get Yoshimura. We've got injured and an idiot to deal with." She grunted. Steven noticed that she had several wounds of her own. She must've been in a fight.

"I'll go get him." Pearl said, rushing off to get the old man. Garnet and Steven moved in to help carry the two people for her. Between him and Touka, they managed to get the human into a room and clean his wounds. Hardly any of them were external, just a few bruised bones and a graze on the head.

"So, why are we patching up a meal?" Amethyst asked. "Shouldn't we just eat him already or something?"

"He's not food." Touka replied. "He's a friend of that idiot Garnet's taking care of."

"What happened?" Steven asked, right at the same time as Yoshimura. The old man looked at the human gravely.

Touka sighed. "They got ambushed by Nishiki. My guess is that they're fellow students of his, and he decided to try and remind the ghoul whose territory he's on."

"Where is he now" Garnet asked, kagune ready.

"Calm down Garnet. He got his ass handed to him. He won't be in action for a long while." She looked at Yoshimura. "You'd better start feeding the idiot before he does something stupid. Guy's been starving himself."

"Hmm. Strange. Now why would he do that?" Yoshimura asked.

"He smells a bit like Steven." Garnet said. "Maybe he's a half-ghoul."

"But Steven doesn't starve himself. He just eats like we do." Amethyst said.

"He keeps thinking that he's human." Touka said. "I met him back when Nishiki first tried to muscle his way back in. He was going on and on about how he's human, and that he can't eat someone or he'll become a monster and whiny junk like that."

"Wait. He used to be human?" Pearl asked in surprise. "That can't be right. Either you're born as a ghoul, or you're born as a human. You can't just switch between them. It's impossible. He's most likely in denial."

"No, not impossible." Yoshimura interrupted. "Very rare, but not impossible."

"You know something?" Touka asked.

"Just rumours mostly. But there have been a few times where someone received a transplant from someone who was a ghoul. They start suffering side effects from it, mainly the inability to eat food and a hunger for flesh. Most usually end up dead though, starving or unable to use their kagunes."

"Huh." Amethyst said. "I thought Steven here was unique."

"He is. Natural Half-Ghouls are rare too."

"So, our half-ghoul patient passed out from hunger." Pearl summed up. "Not surprising, if he considers eating flesh to be 'monstrous'. I propose that we use the time he's unconscious to force feed him flesh until he is sated."

"I'll get to work then. Amethyst, if you don't mind helping." Yoshimura said, turning away.

Amethyst blinked, before chasing after him. "Wait. You're saying that I'm getting ordered to shove food down someone's throat? This is the best job ever."

Pearl sighed. "Well, I suppose we should patch up the human then. Just hope he's pleasant enough to stay unconscious for the duration of his stay." She handed over some bandages that she had grabbed on the way back, letting Touka and Steven help while she checked his chest for injuries. "Still, you have to wonder why that ghoul went so long without eating. Even if it's seen as deplorable by humans, you'd think he'd put that aside if he was hungry enough."

"Well he didn't. The idiot just kept starving himself until he went into a berserker state and tried to eat his best friend. Had to kick his ass to stop him."

"He what?" Steven asked in horror. Tears welled up in his eyes. "Why would he try to eat his friend? Friends aren't for eating." Pearl shushed him as the human mumbled, before settling down again.

"Maybe we should have this conversation _away_ from said friend." Pearl said nervously, bandaging up his midriff. Once they were certain that he was patched up, they quietly left the room. "Ok then. Now, I know your feelings about eating friends…"

"Friends don't eat friends." Steven said stubbornly.

"Yes, yes. I know Steven. But this boy, this ghoul, has been starving himself for… for…" She turned to Touka. "How long do you think he's been starving himself for?"

"Unless he's eaten something since I saw him, he hasn't eaten anything for at least four days." She replied.

"Four whole days?" She shook her head. "Well anyway. After that amount of time, you're not ruled by your thoughts so much as your stomach. You don't really care about the people around you. All you care about is that there is food within reach and that you _need_ to eat. It's a rather big contribution to outing a ghoul. That is why we need to make sure we have regular meals."

"Hey." Amethyst complained. They were passing her in the hall. "How come you were starving me then?"

"You had enough meat to last you a year. You can afford to go a few weeks without eating." Pearl replied.

"How's the idiot?" Touka asked.

Amethyst shrugged. "Eh. Probably full and sated. Tried to chow down on my fingers while I was feeding him, but I bopped him on the head and he let go. Yoshimura thinks he'll be awake in a couple of hours now. So what do we do then?"

Steven raised his hand, waiting until Pearl nodded before speaking. "Maybe I should talk to him? If he sees that he doesn't have to be a monster just because he eats people, he might try to eat normally."

"I don't know if he'll listen… But it's not like we've got any other ideas." Touka finally said. "Alright Steven. We can give it a try. No pain no gain, right?"

Steven looked at her in puzzlement. "Why would there be pain from just talking?"

* * *

Ken Kaneki awoke with a start, eyes blinking wildly as he took short startled breaths. Where… Where was he? What happened? Was that whole thing about him being a ghoul… was it just a nightmare? He felt full, sated, as though he hadn't been hungry at all. As he breathed out, his nose caught the faint scent of… something on his breath. He would've considered it meat of some kind, a steak or something, but that didn't seem quite right. It made his breath smell like…

Blood.

He struggled upright on the sofa he had been sleeping on. Everything came back to him in vivid colours, a tormented waking nightmare. Nishio… Hide's classmate… he had turned out to be a ghoul. They had fought, with Hide's life on the line. Something inside of him snapped, and he went completely berserk. He killed Nishio. And then, his hunger took over his body. He couldn't think straight. All he had cared about was…

Food. Flesh. Meat.

He started sobbing, hand covering his mouth as he realised what happened. He ate him. Oh God, he ate Hide. His best friend was lying injured, and he just started tearing into him like a hamburger. He was… He was…

He started as the door opened, eyes slowly turning towards it. If it was his saviours… then he would plead for them to kill him. If it was the CCG… he wouldn't resist his execution. But to his surprise, it was neither of them. It was a young boy, probably barely reached his teens yet. He was slightly pudgy, with curly black hair and a pink shirt with a star on it. A smile took up most of his face. Most noticeably though, he was wearing an eyepatch. The boy smiled wider as he saw Ken awake.

"Hello Mr Kaneki-San sir." The boy said cheerfully. "Are you feeling better now? Mr Yoshimura and Touka-San found you and made you all better." He walked around the sofa to stand before him. His smile was still beaming. He was likely unaware that he was in the same room as a monster. Ken felt like crying again. The boy's smile drooped as he finally noticed the tears in his eyes. "Kaneki-San? Are you ok?"

Ken let off a choking sob. "No. No, I'm _not_ ok. I'm a monster. I'm a killer. I… I shouldn't even be alive. I should be rotting in the ground like the monster that I am." He waved weakly at the kid. "You need to get away from me. Before I end up hurting you."

But the boy didn't move. He just kept watching him in worry. "There's no need to be sad Kaneki-San. You're not a monster. You just… had a rough day." Ken's next sob was mixed in with a wheezing laugh. A rough day? Oh, if only that kid knew what kind of day he had. "Besides, it's not _your_ fault that your friend was hurt. The others said that Nishio was the one who booted him, not you."

Wait. How did he know about Hide? Did he… Did he see what he had done to him? Or was it that…? A glimmer of hope started welling up inside of him. "Hide?" He said nervously. "You know about Hide?"

The boy held a hand behind his head. "Well, I don't know his name. But there's a blond boy resting a few rooms away. Pearl said that he's got some internal injuries, but he should be fine after a few days."

"But… But why…?" He held a hand to his stomach. "Why don't I feel hungry anymore?"

"Mr Yoshimura helped feed you when Touka-San brought you here. She said that you were so hungry that you were going crazy."

"Feed me?" He looked nervously at the kid. "Do you… Do you have any idea who… what they fed me?"

The boy smiled again. "Don't worry Kaneki-San. Anteiku only uses people who are already deceased for their meals." Ken started as he heard that. 'Only uses people who are already dead'? How could this kid…? He looked at him more closely. Visually, there was no sign that he was actually a ghoul. And how would he even tell anyway? Do ghouls usually come this young? The only oddity was the rose-coloured gem poking out from under his shirt. Right where a belly button would be. "Oh, right. I haven't introduced myself yet." The boy held a hand out to shake. "The name's Steven Universe. Nice to meet you Kaneki-San."

"Did you say 'Universe'?" Ken asked, even as he shook the kid's hand. His full name implied he was American. But he spoke Japanese so fluently.

"Yep. That's my Dad's last name. He had it legally changed and everything." He started walking to the door. "Come on. You probably want to check on your friend, right?"

"How did you know?" Ken asked as he struggled free of the blanket covering him. He noticed blood splashed onto the front of his shirt. A relic of the fight against Nishiki.

"Because if my friend was injured from a ghoul fight, I'd want to make sure she's safe too." Steven answered, leading him down a hallway. They walked in silence for a bit, before Steven started talking again. "So, are you a half-ghoul too?"

"I… Yes. Are you… like me?" He asked, pity welling up inside of him. Poor kid. To have been turned into this mockery, and so young too. What kind of nightmare would do such a thing to him?

"Yeah. My Dad's human, but my mom was a Ghoul. Being half-ghoul can be weird; Pearl wouldn't let me go to school in case I was fed human food. But it's not so bad actually. You just need to eat something different, and be more careful about things. And the Gems deal with all that for me."

"And you don't find it the _slightest_ bit weird that you're eating _people_?" Ken wanted to shout it, but he managed to keep his voice level.

"Well, it'd be nice if I could try some ice cream like everyone else. And I wouldn't mind having candy and chocolate too. But Pearl's really good at preparing the meat, so you can't even notice the difference." He gave Ken a look. "But then again, I've been eating people since I was born. I was too young to realise how weird it is eating people."

"Isn't there something else ghouls can eat? Something that _isn't_ people?"

Steven shrugged. "Well, we _can_ drink coffee without any problems. But even that can't replace meat for us. And if you go too long without eating, you start going crazy and become willing to do anything to get some meat."

"Yeah. I've learnt that the hard way." Ken muttered, more to himself than to Steven. The kid stopped before one of the doors, opening it quietly. Ken saw Hide sleeping inside, chest rising and falling softly. He groaned and rolled over onto his side. Ken saw all the bandages that covered him. None though, seemed to have been covering any bite marks.

"You were _very_ lucky." He heard Touka say. He turned to see her standing in an open doorway, one that seemed to lead to a dining room. She was giving him a cool look. "If I hadn't found you when I did, there wouldn't have been anything left of your friend. Maybe that'll teach you not to starve yourself for some pointless reason." Ken looked at his feet in shame, while Steven frowned.

"Touka. That's not very nice." He admonished.

Touka turned away. "He needs a wake-up call Steven. He can't keep pretending that he's not a ghoul, or he might do something even worse." And she walked through the open doorway, leaving them alone.

"I'm sorry Kaneki-San. Touka's normally much nicer than this." Steven apologised.

"No, she's right. I'm a fool. I thought that if I just stayed strong, I could stop myself form eating someone. But all I did was nearly risk my best friend. I… I know I _have_ to eat someone. But I just… I just can't…" Tears started running down his cheeks. How could he hope to overcome years of habit and willingly eat someone?

Steven tugged on his arm. "Come on. Pearl had an idea while you were sleeping." They walked through the doorway Touka had gone, with Ken pulling to a stop as he saw the people inside.

The room wasn't too cramped, but it seemed that way just how… different the people inside were. Lying on the table itself, drinking an absolute massive cup, was a girl with purple skin. A purple gem peeked out the top of her tank top. Leaning against a wall was a tall red woman with a large afro, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses. An old man stood nearby, and gave them a warm smile as they came in. _His_ skin was at least a normal colour. As he came to a halt, the purple woman jumped off the table and got right in his face.

"So, you the idiot who kept starving himself." She said loudly and obnoxiously. She gave a short laugh. "Man, what kind of loser doesn't eat when he's hungry? I'm amazed you've lasted this long."

"Amethyst. That's hardly polite." A voice snapped. He turned towards it to see another tall woman entering the room, glaring at the purple-skinned woman. But whereas the lady with the afro was curvaceous and muscular, this lady was as thin as a rake. Her outfit resembled a tutu, with shorts that showed off her long legs. The most noticeable bit about her though, was the large gem stuck to her forehead. In her hands, she was carrying what looked like a stew.

She was beautiful.

The lady plopped the bowl down on the table, right before him. She gave him a smile, one that seemed welcoming if a bit wary. "Now, eat up Mr Kaneki. I know you've already eaten, but we don't want to have another incident now do we?"

He gaped at her for a couple of seconds before finding his voice. "N-No Ma'am." He wanted to say something else, but his voice failed him. Blushing deeply, he sat down and grabbed the spoon she had provided. His hand trembled as he lifted it to his mouth. Surely if she hung out here with ghouls she'd know that he couldn't eat real food. But then maybe she had found something that a ghoul _could_ eat. Some kind of special liquid, some plant or something. He took a small sip of it and paused, waiting for his body to reject it.

To his surprise, his stomach remained settled. He ladled a bigger spoonful into his mouth. His taste buds actually enjoyed it. He kept eating until he had eaten the entire bowl. Only then did he relax, feeling full and content.

"That was wonderful." He said gratefully. "What kind of soup was that?"

"Oh, just a pureed leg. Nothing special." She said. His whole body tensed up as she said that. Pureed leg? He had eaten flesh that had been thrown into a blender?

Part of him wanted to scream and cry in horror. And yet a deeper part of him – the part he had been starving for days – relished how tasty and _normal_ it had been. The old man stepped forward, still smiling at him.

"Ken Kaneki." He said. "I know that as a former human, we must seem like monsters to you. But truthfully, we're as human as everyone else. We only eat flesh because it is the only thing we _can_ eat. It is my hope that you would be willing to at least spend some time with us, to get to know us better than the fearmongering reports released to the public." Ken started, mind whirring as he pondered. His eyes roamed towards Steven, who was hanging out with the coloured women and talking jovially with them. All three women were smiling as they listened, clearly caring about the young boy. The old man – likely Yoshimura – followed his gaze. "After all, would a race of 'monsters' really include someone as sweet as Steven?"

"He said that his mom was a ghoul, but his dad was human…"

Yoshimura nodded. "Yes. Rose Quartz. I remember her well. A charming woman, who truly believed that there could be peace between humans and ghouls." He looked at the women around Steven. "She practically raised the Gems, you know. Was like a mother to them."

"What happened to her?"

"Well you see, she wasn't a normal ghoul. They call themselves Ghoul Gems. Along with the RC organs that all ghouls have, they also have a gem somewhere on their person. That gem is the real them, their real bodies. Sadly, it turns out that with Ghoul Gems, the parent and the child cannot live at the same time." He sighed. "She gave her life, her very existence, to ensure that Steven was born." He then gave Ken a look. "Now does that sound like the mind-set of a monster?"

Ken kept watching the four of them talking, watched as the red lady tousled Steven's hair while the purple lady started laughing. Even the tall one had a warm smile. If he didn't know that they were ghouls, he would never have believed it.

"Alright then." He finally agreed. "I can't really let myself starve again. So I might as well work with you guys for a while. But I'm not killing anyone. That's one of my terms. You try and break that, and I am walking out of here."

Yoshimura smiled. "Not to worry. We don't kill people for their meat. You'll understand once you start working for us." And with that, he turned away and left the room, likely satisfied that Ken was at least giving them a chance.

Ken kept standing there, watching the Gems hanging out like a family.

* * *

 **(Present Day)**

Connie was hiding under sheets, clutching her pepper spray tightly as she waited for their eminent attack. Logically, she knew that they wouldn't try until tonight. When everyone was asleep and no one would see what happened. Logically, she also knew that she should say something to her parents.

But when you're close to pants-wetting terror, you forget all about logic.

She started as she heard a dull rhythmic banging on glass. Bang bang bang, it went. Bang bang bang. Bang bang bang. She peeked out over her covers, body trembling in fear. It was coming from her window. They were trying to frighten her. Maybe fear made her meat sweeter or something. A fiery feeling pulsed through her. Well, if that was the case then she wouldn't be afraid. Maybe she could attack them first. Do _something_ before they got her, something that would let her escape. She crept closer and closer to the window, hand gripping her pepper spray tightly and the other outstretched. Bang bang bang. Bang bang bang. Bang bang… She pulled the curtain aside quickly, hoping to surprise them.

Steven smiled at her and waved quickly, somehow sitting on her window sill. Knock knock knock, his hand went against the glass. Knock knock knock. She looked carefully, but it appeared that he was all alone. Everyone was else was still crowding around the Gems, asking them questions and making sure that they were alright. Moving slowly and carefully, she unlatched the window and opened it.

"Hey Connie." He said cheerfully. "Boy, am I glad to see…" She raised her other hand, the one with the pepper spray, and squeezed it before his free eye. He yelled in pain and leaned back, arms waving wildly until he toppled and fell. She looked out the window to see him lying on the ground below, shifting slightly. He flopped over, hand covering his eye. "Ugh. I'm ok." He called out to her." She closed her windows and curtain again, and headed back to her sheets. But she had only gotten under the covers again when she heard scrabbling outside her window. Was he trying again? Knock knock knock, he went. Knock knock knock. Knock knock knock. Knock… knock… knock.

She jumped out of her bed and wrenched the window open. She moved to spray him again, only to find him covering his free eye with his hand.

"Hey Connie." He said again. "I just want to talk to my best friend. Can we do that?"

She stared at him for several seconds before replying. "No." She said. And then she shoved him off her window sill. He yelled again as he fell to the ground, before waving weakly at her. She closed the window again, closed the curtains, hid under the covers again. And he had somehow gotten back up and started knocking _all over again_. Didn't this ghoul know when to quit? She was just going to ignore him this time.

He kept knocking for 30 minutes before she couldn't stand it anymore. She wrenched open the window again and got right in his face. A part of her noticed that all he had to do was open his mouth wide, and he could eat her face off.

"What do you want? If you're going to kill and eat me could you at least not pester me so much?" She practically shouted. Steven looked at her in shock.

"Eat you? Connie, we were never going to _eat_ you. Friends don't eat friends." He said in a wounded tone.

She wasn't having any of his crocodile tears. "They do when one's a flesh-eating ghoul and the other is a human who could nark on them."

"Nuh uh. Garnet said that you wouldn't tell, and she's always right." Steven said proudly. "She must've known that our friendship was more important than anything. That's why you didn't say anything."

"Actually, I figured that no one would believe me if I said that the cheerful friendly boy down the road was a ghoul." She lied. That _was_ a likely reason, right? After all, what other reason would there be that she couldn't tell anyone? But Steven just kept smiling at her.

"Nah. You didn't say anything because you're my friend." He kept going on obliviously. "So, I was thinking that next week might be a good time to go and see the Dogcopter movie…"

"Steven." She interrupted. "Don't you get it? We're not friends anymore. I can't keep hanging out with someone who kills and eats people like their livestock."

"Actually it's mainly suicide victims…" He started saying.

"Don't care. You're a monster, I'm lunch. Humans and ghouls will never get along. Your kind is always preying on us, and we have to hide under our beds in case you lot decide to pay us a visit." She crossed her arms, considering the matter settled.

Steven looked downcast. He mumbled something.

"What was that?"

"…I said that my mom and dad got along." She raised her eyebrows at that, completely surprised.

"Wait. Your dad's human?"

Steven nodded. "He didn't care that mom was a Ghoul. He understood that she was really nice and caring and didn't like that we're separated into hunters and hunted. My mom wanted a world where we could live together in peace."

Connie looked at him in shock for several seconds. A strange noise sounded. It took her a bit to realise that it was her.

"That's crazy!" She finally blurted. "We _can't_ live together in peace. Ghouls can only eat human flesh. My parents always say that if we tried to act nice to them, they would hunt us all down and turn our kind into a buffet table. What you're suggesting is nothing but fiction."

Now Steven looked upset. "Well maybe it's like that because people keep thinking it's a fantasy. They think it's impossible, so they don't even try. But I bet you that we could make it…"

"My parents aren't detectives. They're agents of the CCG." She interrupted. "Believe me, if they so much as got the _feeling_ that you're a ghoul, they would have your head on a stick before you could blink. Now, get out of my room, and don't bother me again." She closed the window – hopefully for the final time – and walked away. She growled as she heard knocking again. She turned to give Steven a piece of her mind and a big blast of pepper spray…

And stopped.

He had his face pressed up against the glass, in the most stupidest expression possible. His mouth was all scrunched up on one side, while gaping wide on the other. His free eye was bulging, and he was using his fingers to stretch out his cheeks. Despite herself, she could resist chuckling. Smiling, Steven made another expression. Her laugh became stronger, and she tried to smother it behind her hand. And then Steven started licking her window.

"Steven, stop it." She said, still giggling. "I'm being serious here. I'm not sure about turning you and your family in, but if my parents find out about you they will _freak_. They'll throw you in prison, if not kill you." She had managed to stop herself from giggling during her words, and now had a grim expression on her face. Steven looked completely serious too.

"I know. But they shouldn't find out. And as long as you keep my secret, I promise that I will protect you from anyone who wants to hurt you. Cross my heart and all that."

Connie bit her lip. "I… I don't know. I just… I won't tell, but that's _it_. Just… keep your distance. For now."

"Thank you Connie. And don't worry. Your parents won't even see me coming." He blushed as he realised how that sounded. "Because I'm not going near your house. Anymore. I'll just…" He stumbled, and yelled as he fell off the window sill. Connie looked out the window in worry, spying him lying on the ground. He groaned. "I'm _still_ ok." He then got up and limped away, waving to her as he left.

She still wasn't sure what he was. He was still much nicer than she'd expect a ghoul to be. But there's no denying that he eats flesh. Maybe…

Maybe she'll give him a _slight_ chance.

* * *

 **There we go. Finally finished this chapter. It ended up going on longer than I thought it would. But I managed to finish it.**

 **Now, before anyone starts jumping down my throat about Ken possibly having feelings for Pearl, it just popped into my head. I was writing this down, describing Pearl, and the way it was turning out seemed a bit romantic. Of course, we all know that he won't have a chance with her. But I'm still keeping** _ **this**_ **part in anyway.**

 **My only complaint is that I didn't have enough space in this chapter to include a visit from Ronaldo. I guess we'll have to wait for the next chapter to include mentions of 'Sneoples'.**


	4. A Pearl in Its Shell

**I see that a lot of people really enjoy this story, considering how many reviews are basically people asking me if I could do more. Well, I've decided to do a smaller piece to please those fans.**

 **Of course, smaller is subjective or whatever. It's still about 6,000 words long.**

 **As you can guess from the title, this is meant to be more about Pearl and an event that happens to her. She's pretty much my favourite character in the show, especially with every revelation we learn about her.**

 **So for all you Pearl fans, enjoy the chapter. For everyone else, enjoy watching Amethyst doing what she does best; causing a little trouble.**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: A Pearl in Its Shell**

"I see that she's still here." Pearl muttered, looking out the window as she ironed Steven's clothes for him. He and the human girl were busy playing outside, throwing around a ball and seeing who could get the most points for hitting it into an old trash can. She frowned as they collided, falling into a heap and yet laughing.

"Ah, lighten up Pearl. So Steven's got a friend. He deserves to have someone to play with." Amethyst said from the couch, playing a video game. "Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. What's wrong with being friends with a human?"

"Because humans and ghouls will _never_ get along. The longer she remains in contact with him, the more likely that one day she will decide to turn us in. And the less likely Steven will be willing to silence her." Pearl replied matter-of-factly. "It's only logical to not have close companionships with humans."

"Pfft. Logic? Who cares about logic? Logic's boring anyway. If we were all logical, we'd never have any fun."

"If we were all logical, then humans would stop hunting us since they would understand that human flesh is the _only_ thing we can eat. So how about less lip?" Amethyst threw down the controller, turning round to glower at her.

"You know, you used to be more fun when we were younger. You used to actually do stuff instead of being all insufferable. Now it's like you're a different person."

"We are all shaped by our experiences." Pearl said firmly, hand gripping the iron hard enough to start cracking the plastic. "Some of us had to grow up faster than others. Some of us…" She took a deep breath. "Some ghouls lose more than just their innocence." She looked up at the picture of Rose Quartz on the wall, blinking a single tear from her eyes.

Amethyst groaned audibly and stomped out of the room, slamming the front door behind her as she left. It was always like that. It was _always_ like that. Pearl had been actually fun to hang out with before Rose had Steven. Yeah, they had _all_ been hurt by her passing. But Pearl… she just kept on dwelling about it.

She wasn't going to get better until she found some way of moving on with her life. But how?

As she was trying to come up with anything, she looked around the neighbourhood for some ideas. There was Mr Fryman, loading up his fast food truck for the day. Maybe Pearl could work for him? Nah, she doesn't like the smell of fast food. And the mess. Everytime Amethyst looked at her food preparation station it always looked like she never used it. Maybe a job with Mr Smiley? Pearl _does_ like the theatre. She'd get out of the house, meet new people, and actually _enjoy_ something.

Until her OCD causes her to act like a freaking prima donna. Nope. Her thoughts turned to Anteiku. Pearl would make a great waitress. She'd remember all their orders, prepare their food for them, hang out with other ghouls…

No. Hanging out with only ghouls wasn't the answer. Pearl needed to meet _humans_ to take her mind off things. She needed someone to care about. Someone to have a relationship with…

Her eyes turned to the Dewey house. Home of the guy who keeps trying to get Pearl to notice him.

Perfect. Now she just needed some accomplices.

"Hey Steven." She called out, heading towards him and the human girl. The two of them, happily bouncing the ball off their heads, turned to look at her. "Wanna help me arrange a surprise for Pearl?"

Steven gasped. "A surprise? Is it a party? Is it Pearl's birthday? What should we get her?" He said all this excitedly, not even stopping to take a breath.

"Whoa, whoa, Steven. Calm down. She's kinda just past that window there." Amethyst whispered, pointing over her shoulder.

"Oh. Sorry." Steven whispered back. "Is it a surprise birthday party?"

"Nah. I just think that Pearl needs to get out and mingle a bit. Get to know more people. Find herself a nice boyfriend."

"We're organising… a surprise date?" Connie asked dubiously, one eyebrow raised.

"Sure. These things always work in sitcoms. And hey, maybe this hunky guy could make Pearl loosen up and have some fun for a change."

"I don't know. This sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"Yeah. And everything works out in the end, and the boy and girl end up loving each other all the more. I've seen enough movies to know how this goes."

"…Fair enough." Connie nodded.

"Great. Now that we're all on board, we're going to have to arrange some stuff. Pearl wouldn't agree to this if we ask her straight out, so we need to get her to the dinner place-thing. Quick, what's a fancy restaurant that they could go to?"

"Anteiku." Steven said immediately.

Amethyst gave him a level look. "Steven, we're talking about fancy. Anteiku isn't all that fancy."

"But it _does_ serve her kind of food." Connie pointed out. "After all, Ghouls are physically incapable of eating regular food. Isn't that how it goes?"

"We can eat it. It just makes us really sick unless we throw up almost immediately. It'll be fine. Now come on, I need a really fancy restaurant."

The three of them mulled things over. Then Connie raised her hand. "Well, my parents have been making plans to go to some restaurant named Many Orders. The pamphlets make it _look_ pretty flash."

"Good enough. Now, here's what we'll do. I'll go and get the guy I'm thinking of and tell him that a lovely young lady is interested in him and wants to go to dinner with her. He'll chomp at the bit to meet her, and will probably be there on time. Meanwhile, you two are to go to Pearl and convince her that she needs to go undercover at Many Orders as a guest to… investigate… something. I dunno, you guys figure it out. Just make sure she's there by seven. I'll bring the camera for the wacky hijinks." And she ran off, heading back for the house.

"Steven. What have we agreed to?" Connie asked in deadpan.

"I'm afraid to answer that." He replied.

* * *

Bill Dewey walked down the street, whistling to himself jauntily as he went. Today had been a wonderful day for the neighbourhood watch. Not a single ghoul, kidnapper, or door-to-door salesman in the area. Everyone was mostly happy, and kids were going to wonderful and friendly school.

This would've been enough to make any caring mother feel relieved and honoured to have him in their community. Maybe, just maybe, it might be enough to impress Pearl Universe too.

"Mr Dewey Sir?" He stopped as he heard his name, turning around. Little Amethyst Universe, usually a troublemaker, was standing shyly before him, her hands clutching something behind her.

He smiled at her. "Hello, Amethyst. How's your sister? Having a wonderful time in this lovely day?"

"I think so, Mr Dewey. She was definitely humming today. In fact, she wanted me to give something to you." She pulled her hand out from behind her back, showing a sloppily-made card. He took it from her, gently shaking the extra glitter off, and gave it a good read.

"Bill," It said. "I know how strong your feelings are for me, and I hope to be able to show my own affection for you. Please meet me at Many Orders tonight at seven, so we can have a wonderful moonlit dinner that lovers like us deserve." He started whimpering as he read that?

"Pearl… She made this… for me?" He started blubbering.

Amethyst nodded. "I think she's just too shy to say anything. She's always been so… stoic."

Bill wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Then tell Pearl that I will be there and waiting on the dot. Our love will be known to the world." He whooped as he skipped down the street, clutching the handmade card like his life depended on it. Amethyst sighed in relief, glad that it worked. But then again, Bill Dewey always been so obviously in love with Pearl.

Sure, they didn't have a thing in common. But since when did that ever stop people before?

* * *

"Ok. So we'll go and make a fake website to post this 'secret report' on, and arrange it so that Pearl will find it in her mailbox. From there, we will subtly ask her about the report without giving away our knowledge of it, and try to steer her into going to the restaurant. When she leaves, you'll lure her with a fake ghoul puppet, and disappear into the crowd. You with me so far?" Connie said to Steven, pointing out different parts of her master plan.

"Uh… I was with you until we got the part about the birdcall signal. Also, Pearl doesn't _have_ an email address." Steven replied. Connie just stared at him before scrunching up the plan."

"Forget it. We'll just tell her we heard a rumour. Come on." She stood up, and headed towards the kitchen. Where Pearl was arranging some meat for Steven.

"Ah, Connie." Pearl said, noticing the young human enter. "I'm afraid that you'll have to return home soon. It's nearly Steven's dinnertime, and I'm afraid that this particular cut is rather…"

"Pearl!" Steven shouted, running into the kitchen and nearly colliding into Connie. "There's a rumour going around that something big is happening in a restaurant tonight." Connie placed a hand against her face.

Pearl turned to face him, eyebrow raised. "Something… big? Did this report say anything more… specific?"

"A… A…"

"A meeting." Connie said. "There's a big meeting about… recent sightings of ghouls. And plans for them. At seven, they said."

"Yeah, yeah. You'll have to sneak in as a guest. Fancy dress and everything." Steven added, nodding his head quickly.

"Hmm. Now how did information like _that_ get out?" Pearl wondered. "Still, it's not like I could just let this happen without checking on it. A shame that Garnet is busy tonight. I could've used the extra muscle. But all the same…" Connie and Steven glanced at each other nervously. What if she didn't buy it? What then?

"It sounds unlikely, but it couldn't hurt to just have a look." Pearl said finally. "Steven, I've already prepared your dinner for you. You'll just have to heat it up. Make sure you finish your homework, and lock the house up once it gets late. I may be gone for an hour or two, depending on how this goes." Her clothes turned dark red, flowing outwards and downwards before changing back into pale colours. She was now dressed in a long, sleek aquamarine dress that bared her shoulders, neck, and arms. A single strip of cloth hung from below her shoulders. She made a projection of herself, and nodded at the look. "It'll do, I suppose. I should fit right in like this." She shook her head ruefully though. "The CCG must be pretty daring though, having their secret meeting in a Ghoul restaurant." And with that, she walked out the front door, waving goodbye to Steven.

Steven and Connie were too busy looking at each other in alarm. A _Ghoul_ Restaurant?

* * *

 _Alright. If I were a murderous speciest human trying to pretend to be my most hated enemy, what would I look like?_ Pearl wondered as she approached the restaurant. They obviously wouldn't have anything obvious that would suggest that they were Doves; Ghouls tended to get nervous if you so much as had a pin or a necklace with a dove on it. No, if they were smart about it, there should be no outward signs that they were human. She'll just have to watch for anyone that looked familiar and see if they were…

She came to a halt near the entrance, eyes wide as she noticed someone _very_ familiar. Bill Dewey, rocking on his heels before the door and glancing at his watch nervously. He looked up just as she spotted him, beaming as he saw her. And then he started approaching her.

"Pearl. You made it." He said warmly, pulling her into a hug. She was still too shocked to knock him away for the physical contact. Her mind was still reeling at his appearance. What was he even _doing_ here? Had some other ghoul invited him as the entrance fee? Did he somehow follow her here? No, he had obviously arrived here early. But that still didn't explain… "You arrived on time. I was kinda worried that I had gotten here too early for our date."

That snapped her out of her funk. "Our what? What do you…? What are you…?" She spluttered.

"I thought the card you made was a wonderful touch. A little something made by your beautiful hands." He pulled away and brought her hand to his lips, unaware of Pearl shuddering on contact.

She pulled her hand free. "Dewey. Dewey. Slow down. I think…" She gave a nervous laugh. "I'm a little confused here. I… I didn't make any card. Or arrange a date."

Bill looked at her in confusion. "You didn't? But… Little Amethyst said that you gave her…"

"Amethyst?" She looked around wildly, finally spotting a purple squirrel with an amethyst crystal on its front and a camera in its paws high in a tree nearby. Pearl glared at her, finally understanding. "Oh that little clod." She took a deep breath, and only then did she turn back to the confused human. "I'm terribly sorry about this, Dewey. It seems that _someone_ or _somebodies_ decided to arrange this little dinner without my knowledge or permission." Those three were in for some big trouble when she got home. Steven won't be allowed any TV for a month. Amethyst would have to go without meat for just as long. Connie… Well, _Garnet_ would have to talk to her parents about this. "I'm sorry that you were dragged away from… whatever you were doing by false pretences. I will make sure Amethyst never tries anything like this again."

"Oh." Bill replied, looking downcast. "So, what did she say to bring _you_ here?"

"That's…" She stopped, recognising another familiar face. A twisted mad-eyed face with stringy white hair, walking alongside a young woman with a blond bob.

Kureo Mado. One of the most vile Doves in the entire city.

So Steven and Connie _were_ telling the truth about the Doves.

"Actually, since we're both already here and dressed up for the part, why don't we go in and have a bite to eat? As friends."

Bill's face brightened up, and he took her arm in his own. "I'd love to go out with you as friends." He said. And he had the stupidest looking smile on his face as they headed in. Mado was luckily ahead of them, but she still felt worried having someone like _him_ so close. The maître d watched them passively, one arm ready to stop their progress. She merely flashed her eyes at him, and he nodded.

"Welcome, mademoiselle and misère." He said formally, his Japanese accent showing through his attempt at French. "And welcome to Many Orders." He bowed to them, and they entered the restaurant.

"Sooo. Where should we sit?" Bill asked her. Pearl didn't answer at once, keeping track of Mado. He and his lady friend moved to the far back of the room, on the other side of the ring.

She pointed over to their general area. How about there? It's quiet, and rather secluded. Perfect." She said, tugging him along.

"S-S-Secluded? Oh my." Dewey said, blushing. But he didn't resist her, and that was all she cared about. They sat down at a free table not too close to Mado, Pearl seated so she could keep an eye on him without being overt about it.

Dewey started fiddling with his tie, sweating profusely. He gave a few loud coughs as he cleared his throat, obviously at a lost at what to say. Pearl simply ignored him, trying her best to not appear to be spying.

Now, if Steven's false information turned out to be correct, then Mado and his lady friend weren't the only Doves here right now. The problem is that there was no way to tell if someone was or wasn't a ghoul until the point where they ate human flesh, or revealed their kagune. Maybe she should just wait until he left for his 'meeting', and excuse herself from this dinner to follow him. Then she could shapeshift into something smaller, sneak into the meeting, and listen in…

"You know, I think this might be the perfect time for us to… get to know each other better." She blinked, turning slightly to give Dewey her full attention. He cleared his throat again. "I mean, you and your sisters just showed up out of the blue one day with little Steven. Some people started talking… you know what people are like." He moved to place his hand atop her own. "I just want to know a little bit more about you, that's all."

She pulled her hand away before he could touch it. "There's… not much to say. We just found each other and banded together, thanks to Steven's mother, Rose Quartz."

"Oh? So he's not actually your…?"

"No." She said firmly. "He isn't. Unfortunately, Rose didn't survive his birth. It was up to us to raise him in her stead. And… well, I…" She fell silent. "I missed her. Rose saved me. She saved us all. I could never really repay her for that."

"Saved you? Didn't your families help you girls?"

Pearl placed her hands against her legs, firmly clenched. "No. They couldn't. We didn't have anyone else." She didn't say anything else.

"Oh? Ohhh." Dewey finally understood. "Oh, I'm so sorry Pearl. I didn't mean to… to bring up bad memories."

"Then perhaps you should stop asking me about my past. It's… in the past. It doesn't matter anymore." She looked away. "Let's just talk about something else."

"Uh… Right. Well, I uh… before I retired over in Japan, I used to be the mayor of a small coastal town in America. Ran the place pretty successfully while I was in charge. But in the end, I decided to let a younger generation take over, and moved here to enjoy my retirement."

"But aren't you well under the age of retirement? I thought most people retire in their fifties and sixties." Pearl asked.

"Ah, I-I decided to have an early retirement." He replied nervously, sweating again. "Being mayor is a busy job. You don't really have much time for your family, since you're so busy looking after everyone else's families."

Fortunately for Dewey's pride, the waiter had finally announced his presence. Dewey quickly ordered something at random, while Pearl (who had been browsing the menu for any slang terms for human flesh) chose a delectable sliced heart and stomach. The waiter mentioned that there would be some entertainment later on, down in the ring below. And that her date could take part, if they so choose.

She declined immediately. She always thought of these 'Ghoul on human' fights to be simply deplorable. There was nothing wonderful about seeing prey slaughtered by predators. Besides, knowing Dewey he probably told everyone that he was on a 'date' with her. She glanced at Mado again; he still hadn't moved from his seat. Was he still waiting for more Doves to arrive? Or was there some other reason he was here? Surely it couldn't be something so simple as that he didn't realise that this is a restaurant for ghouls and that he was the 'offering' of his date. Someone as fearsome as him couldn't fall for something like that…

Everyone looked up at the sound of a squealing microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen." The announcer started saying. "It is time for the event most of you have been waiting for, a battle that will spice up your meal and leave you breathless. That's right, it is time… for the Arena." People started cheering loudly as he said that, everyone looking down at the ring in the middle of the room. Dewey looked rather confused, while Pearl just looked away from the debased execution. "For your viewing pleasure, we've found a few willing fighters to beat each other stupid to see who has the strength and will to survive. And we've even gotten a wonderful opening all set up, just to sate your hunger for violence."

"This… This sounds rather deplorable." Dewey remarked. "What kind of restaurant thinks that people want to see violence?"

"It's not unprecedented." Pearl answered. "They used to do such things back in Ancient Rome with the Coliseum. Unfortunately, from what I've heard most of these sorts of things are merely meant to let people see blood flowing. Hardly meant to be fair."

"In the West side, having won over twenty straight matches and never left the ring without wearing half of his opponents on his fists… Goro." The grate opened wide, the ground almost shaking from the footsteps. A giant of a man, wearing only shredded pants and a black mask, stepped out into the light, raising his hands up high as the crowd cheered. His mask was molded so that a massive toothy grin took up most of it, the teeth actually molded into the plastic. He already had a streak of red across his chest. "And his opponent, weighing in at about a pint and getting smaller every second… Some loser who's gonna die." As the other grate opened, a young man was pushed out by arena workers, stumbling a bit before falling to the ground. He wore a cobbled mask that barely hid his face, covering one eye. He turned back and ran for the grate, but it had already closed.

"Wait! Let me back in! I don't want to fight! I want to go home!" He screamed, banging his fists uselessly against the door. Yes, definitely predator versus prey. Barbaric, and pointless. Pearl stopped paying attention. When was her meal going to arrive?

"We have to… We have to do something." Dewey said, standing up. He moved to leave the table, but she grabbed him by the arm.

"These people want blood, Dewey, and they don't particularly care where it comes from. You try to save this boy, and you'll just end up joining him." They both looked at the arena as Goro roared, and something went 'smash'. The dust parted, and the boy was somehow in the air, kagune sticking out of his back. "Hmm. And it looks like he's not defenceless. This may have gotten interesting after all."

Bill turned back to look at her before looking back at the boy… no, _ghoul_ , fighting for his life. He knew that they were monsters, that they lived only to lure children and families to their lairs and eat them alive… but he couldn't forget just how scared that boy had sounded when they had thrown him in there.

He didn't sound like a monster. He sounded like a kid thrown to the wolves.

"I have to try _something_." He said, pulling free of Pearl's grip and running for the ring. With a loud yell that was more fear than bravery, he jumped the edge and sailed through the air, landing on the back of the giant ghoul and wrapping his arms around his neck.

And promptly realising that he hadn't thought of how he'd take out a monstrous ghoul at least twice his size. He screamed in panic as he tried to hold on.

"Well, well. What's this ladies and gentlemen? Seems that someone decided to volunteer to join in. Now we're getting a two-for-one blood fight for your viewing pleasure." The commentator seemed almost excited by the change.

Pearl groaned and pressed a hand to her face. Unbelievable. Despite all the logic that said he shouldn't have tried, the fool still jumped right into the fight. Was he _trying_ to get himself killed? And now she was going to have to save his hide. Whilst a Dove was watching, so that ruled out using her Kagune.

Fortunately for her and Dewey, she found a unique ability of her Gem.

She crouched beneath her table cloth, holding one hand over her Gem. There was no time for her usual fancy invocation; she simply concentrated until a sword hilt jutted from her forehead like some demented unicorn horn. She pulled it out and formed a mask; a Picasso-like design. Only then did she crawl out and jump down into the arena, slashing Goro along the arm as she fell. He roared in anger, and moved to swat her like a bug.

"Oh? And it looks like he's got a friend. Well, I hope they got matching gravestones ready, because they're not gonna last much longer." She ignored the commentator, instead ducking under the sluggish blows and dancing around Goro. Though he was strong and touch, his lack of speed made him merely a bigger target. He lashed out with bikaku, slamming it where she was standing. Pearl jumped into the air, slashing his sides as she passed before bounding round behind him and jabbing him under the arm. He roared in pain as he was injured, turning around to grab her. She drove her sword through his fingers, before letting his strength sheer them off. As he clutched his hand, she aimed for the tendon in his leg, jumping over his bikaku. He collapsed to the ground, lashing out blindly.

"Dewey! Let go of his neck, now!" She shouted. Bill whimpered before his weakened grip caused him to fall, allowing Pearl to jump up towards Goro's neck. He suddenly moved, likely having recovered enough to launch a counterattack. She simply jumped off his fist, before slashing her blade as she passed.

She landed and flicked away some blood, before his head toppled off and he fell like a felled tree.

And then several patrons suddenly stood up, weapons in their hands.

The Doves had finally made their move.

"By order of the Commission of Counter Ghoul office, everyone here is under arrest under suspicion of being a ghoul!" A dark-haired man shouted out. "Surrender at once, or there _will_ be consequences."

Most of the patrons stood up, kagune flaring. The few humans here screamed and ran, trying to get away. "You'll never take us all on, Doves. We'll feed on your flesh, and splatter your blood everywhere." And then they were all clashing, kagune against quinque.

Bill stared up in horror. "Ghouls… So many ghouls…" he whispered.

"Come on. We need to get out of here before the CCG arrests us." Pearl ordered, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him towards Goro's corpse. A solid kick made the body slump against the wall, high enough to jump back out.

"What? But… But the CCG won't arrest _us_. We're human."

"Given the number of people here, I doubt they'll double check before killing us on the spot." She retorted, dragging him up the side. He was about to say something back, but she interrupted him by throwing him bodily into the air. He screamed as he flew, crashing down in someone's dinner. Pearl felt the body shift under her feet, and pushed off into the air after him, landing neatly near the edge.

"Wait!" The other ghoul screamed at her, trying to climb up. "Please, help me. I don't want to die. I just want to go home." She rolled her eyes; really now, was she expected to look after every stray she came across? He had his kagune; he can get out on his own. "Please. Help me. I don't want to die!"

She glared back at him. "Yes, yes. You've made that very clear. I don't see how…" She looked closer. The black hair looked oddly familiar. He had pulled off the mask, revealing that only one eye was the black of a ghoul. "Ken? Ken Kaneki?"

"You… you know me? Then please, help." She groaned, and pressed a hand against her face. But if this idiot started talking, then her whole life could be in danger. "Fine. Reach out with your kagune." He did so, stretching it out as far as it could go. He yelped as she used her koukaku to hook him and pull him up. Hopefully, the Doves were too busy fighting to notice her. If not, there would be trouble. She furled up her kagune, grabbing the two idiots as she ran. "Come _on_." She grunted. "Move your asses." The front door was blocked off, so they headed further into the restaurant. Towards the kitchens and such. Inside, it was a mess, as ghouls and chefs all tried to fight back against Doves breaking in. There were just so many of them. Instead, they took a different path; down a hallway leading toward rooms for guests seeking… unusual entertainment.

And found the maître d standing in their path, a dove pin on his lapel.

The doorman was a Dove, and he knew she was a ghoul.

He _had_ to be silenced.

"Keep going." She hissed, pushing them both away. "I'll deal with this." They both cast fearful looks at the maître d, before running wildly in another direction. And hopefully, a way out.

"How cute." The Dove smirked, pulling out a quinque. "You think that because you could take on that dumb freak you're a match for me? I am going to enjoy hunting your friends down, and killing them with your own freak organ." His quinque took on the form of an axe, and he charged towards her.

"You're overestimating yourself. And underestimating me." She formed her koukaku again, and charged forward to meet him. They clashed, and the Dove was easily pushed back. He clearly wasn't expecting her to be far stronger than her slight frame suggested. Now on the defensive, he jumped backwards, swinging his axe around. A kagune lashed out from it, slicing the wall above her head. She pushed off the ground and slammed her blade into his chest. He gritted his teeth and buried his axe into her shoulder, but she ignored the pain. Her koukaku charged with power, and she released it. The Dove exploded, his blood and bits staining the ground.

There. Hopefully, he didn't manage to tell anyone else about her. But it would be best to get in contact with Garnet as soon as possible, just to be safe. She healed her wound and drank in the blood staining her, running down the path Dewey had taken.

Hopefully he hadn't managed to run headfirst into trouble.

* * *

"Aaahh!" Bill Dewey screamed as he ran away from more fighting ghouls and CCG agents, nearly spinning one eighty to find an exit. But his hallway was a dead end, only a large window decorating it. There was no way out. They were going to die here. This is a complete nightmare.

The ghoul boy with him screamed as he charged forward, wrapping his arms around his head. His tentacles (what were they even called?) lashed forward, shattering the window for them. The ghoul jumped out, and Bill quickly followed him. They both landed in the pond outside, and came spluttering to the surface before crawling out. From there, it was only a short distance to the trees and freedom.

They both stopped to catch their breaths once the restaurant was far behind them. Bill started squeezing the water out of his suit. "Well, this has got to be _the worst_ dinner I've ever attended. And I once had a food fight start up between democratics and republicans, so I know what I'm talking about."

"We… have to… keep running." The ghoul panted. "Need… to get… away."

"Not without Pearl. I'm not leaving until I know she's safe, and I don't care what may happen to me." Bill said bravely. His moment was ruined as he shrieked at the sound of rustling leaves.

"Oh calm down, Dewey. It's just me." Pearl said as she pushed through the bushes. She still looked like a warrior goddess, her dress barely marked by the violence around her. "And what are you two still doing here? We need to leave before reinforcements arrive."

"That's what I said." Ken replied nervously. "But this man wouldn't leave without you."

Pearl power walked past them both. "Well here I am. Now let's get moving. It'll be safer to split up. Dewey, you take a taxi back home. Ghoul, go… wherever you were going before you got dragged into all this. I'll walk home."

"What? But it's too dangerous for a beautiful young lady like yourself to…" Pearl, already feeling frustrated, kicked out at a tree. The wood cracked ominously. "Right. I'll just… find a taxi then." Dewey finished lamely, rushing quickly through the trees to get to the roads.

"Thank you for saving me." Ken said, looking relieved. "That was… so horrifying."

"What madness drove you to taking part in an arena fight in the first place?" Pearl asked him as she walked away, Ken hurrying after her.

"A… a patron of Anteiku invited me to come along. He said it would be a wonderful time. He never said that it would be a fight. I just thought it was entertainment or something."

"Technically, he was right. But from now on, be careful around Tsukiyama. He may not look like it, but he's dangerous. And we only barely tolerate him. Now shoo." She added, waving him off. "It won't do me any good to be found with another ghoul. Go back to Anteiku, and stay there."

"Yes ma'am." He said, running off as quickly as he could. Pearl sighed, and headed for the nearest path. As she stepped onto the stone path, a squirrel landed on her shoulder.

"Aw man, that was _so_ boring." Amethyst complained. "Nothing even happened until Dewey jumped into the ring. Who knew the spineless human had the guts to do _that_?"

Pearl glowered at her fellow ghoul. "Amethyst, what the hell were you thinking? You lied to Dewey and had Steven lie to me all so you could have some fun?"

"It was _supposed_ to make you stop being so boring. Geez, you've done nothing but sulk for thirteen years. I figured that, I dunno, maybe getting you a boyfriend might make you fun again."

"A boy… Amethyst! You can't just throw two people together and expect them to instantly fall in love. Just because Dewey's attracted to me doesn't mean that I feel the same way. Besides, he's a human. You know that I barely tolerate humans."

"Arrgh." Amethyst groaned clawing at her face. "Then what do you want? What's it gonna take for you to lighten up again?"

Pearl looked away. "You can't just… Sometimes, you don't bounce back from terrible events. Sometimes, you're changed by them forever."

"Urgh. You sound so… emo. Tell you what. You tell me which guy you like, and I'll help you hook up with them. Free of charge."

"I told you, I'm not interested in anyone." Pearl looked away again. "The only person I loved… has been dead for years. And she's never coming back."

One could almost hear the bulb lighting in Amethyst's head. "Ohhh. I get it now." Pearl looked back at her. "Rose. She was the Ruby to your Sapphire, right?" Pearl started blushing, but managed to give a short nod. "That's kinda creepy."

" _Creepy?!_ How is my love for Rose anything other than pure and wonderful?!" Pearl asked angrily.

"Because you were only fifteen when she died. I'm pretty sure an adult dating a minor is illegal pretty much everywhere in the world."

"I was _going_ to wait until I was of age before I confessed my feelings to her." Pearl argued back. "But…" She sighed, the fight going out of her. "But you know what happened. Guess she didn't love me the way I loved _her_."

"So… There's really no one else? No one who can take her place in your heart?"

"…No."

They walked the rest of the way in silence.

* * *

 **There we go. A little fun based slightly off the Restaurant plot. I never actually watched the episode, so I just adjusted the basics to have some fun and see Pearl be a badass.**

 **Now, for this story, the Gems aren't actually thousands of years old and aliens and stuff. They're unusual, but as for age, they're still within human ages. So I've decided that Garnet is the oldest at about 31 (having been 18 when Rose was around), Pearl is 29 (originally 15, as mentioned), and Amethyst is 16 (having originally been 3). This is all based on the fact that thanks to the episode 'Steven's Birthday', we know that Steven is around 13 during the show.**

 **Oh, and the name of the restaurant comes from the fact that the Ghoul restaurant is based on the story 'The Restaurant With Many Orders'. Seeing as how it doesn't really have an official name, I felt it was good enough.**


	5. Fusion Fun

**Ok then. Because a fan has been constantly asking me about Tokyo Gems on my** _ **other**_ **stories, I figured I might as well write something to appease them. But before we get into this, I just want to clarify things for fans of this story. I have frankly far too many stories in progress right now, and it feels like not enough time to do them. I want my writing to be fun for me, not feel like a chore to do. So unfortunately, this is one of the stories that's going to end up being updated** _ **very sporadically**_ **. Basically, whenever I feel like adding more. If you don't like that, then I'm sorry but there's not much I can do about that.**

 **And with that said, enjoy whatever thoughts I managed to wrangle out of my head and turn into a coherent story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Fusion Fun**

Connie jogged down the sidewalk, her bag banging against her back as she went. The day was bright and sunny, and everyone was acting really friendly. It looked like it would be a great day to hang out with Steven again. There was an art contest in town for kids their age; they could work together to make an entry. She already had a sketchbook and pencils for practice. They might not win, but at least they would have some fun. She reached his house, and opened the door widely, ready to say hi…

Jaunty music was playing loudly, and she saw Steven and Amethyst dancing together. Amethyst was shaking her hips with her arms over her head. Steven… was doing a very poor imitation of her dance. Amethyst jumped up and spun around, her long hair whipping around as she landed facing the other way. Steven tried to follow her, but his foot slipped as he landed, and he fell over instead.

Pearl, over in the corner of the room, pressed a hand to her face and shook her head. With the other one, she paused the music coming from the stereo. "No, no, no. That's not right at all. Your timing is all over the place." She said. "Steven, you need to mimic Amethyst's moves _precisely_. And Amethyst, stop throwing in complicated and random moves whenever you feel like it. Maybe we should try a different style. Something easier, more rhythmic, and less…" She made a noise of disgust, "vulgar."

Amethyst snorted. "You mean something _boring_." She stuck her finger down her throat, before shoving her whole hand in her mouth. Steven started laughing, and then turned enough to see Connie standing in the doorway.

"Hi Connie." He said cheerfully. The others turned as he said her name. Amethyst pulled her arm out of her mouth, waving it even as saliva dripped down her arm. Garnet gave her a curt nod, arms still crossed as she leaned against the wall. And Pearl narrowed her eyes at her. Evidently, she was still a bit upset about her aid in trying to set her up. Steven ran up to her. "How are you doing?"

"Uh, ok." She answered stiltedly. "What exactly are you guys…?"

"They're teaching me how to fuse!" He answered excitedly. "Remember when Pearl and Amethyst merged together into a bigger lady, and took out all those mean Ghouls?"

Did she? Of course she did. Something never recorded before, something no Ghoul had ever shown ever since the formation of the CCG… She thought back to a conversation she had with her dad after the fight…

* * *

 _Dad sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he looked over the reports. He alternated between tapping his chin with a biro, looking up at the ceiling, and reading 'eye witness reports' of whatever he was writing about. Connie walked over, and read over his shoulder. The words 'Flayed Ones' immediately reached out to her._

" _Is this a follow-up on hunting down the Flayed Ones?" she asked. Dad jumped a bit as he turned. He must've been concentrating too hard; he hadn't even heard her._

" _Honey, what have I said about sneaking up on me?" He scolded. "You know I don't like it._ _ **And**_ _you know you're not supposed to read my work. It can be_ _ **very**_ _scary."_

" _Sorry dad." She apologised._

 _Dad sighed. "Well, I suppose you've already looked. To answer your question, this isn't one of ours. We found several Flayed Ones already killed a few nights ago, down in a maze of alleyways. We don't have all the details since no one was actually there, but from the way their bodies are, it looked like they were all killed at once mid-pounce. None of the Investigators have reported anything; so this is either off the record, or the work of a ghoul."_

 _The alleyway. The Crane and the Puma. She had to know how they managed to merge. But she couldn't outright say it. Mom and Dad would have heart attacks if they knew she had nearly been attacked by Ghouls. She had to word this carefully._

" _Hey, dad? Have there ever been any cases of Ghouls somehow… fusing together?" She asked._

 _Dad turned to her again, giving her his undivided attention. "Fusing together? What do you mean by that?" He sounded confused._

" _I… I read online somewhere that someone saw two ghouls pressing against each other and turning into some kind of… paste thing. And then there's one bigger Ghoul, with two kagune."_

 _Dad chuckled, tousling her hair. "Oh honey. You shouldn't believe_ _ **everything**_ _you read online. People just love to make up stories about what Ghouls can do. Why, if you believed every story out there, Ghouls could apparently do everything; including fly, live forever, grow to the size of giants, and even cast magic. Ghouls aren't some_ _ **mystical**_ _race. They're just… people with scary powers and horrible diets."_

 _So. That kind of… ability_ _ **wasn't**_ _very common. Certainly not common_ _ **enough**_ _if Dad thinks it's impossible. She must be the only human to have seen this strange ability._

 _Dad turned back to his work. "Now, it's time for you to be in bed, young lady. And don't tell your mother you've been reading stories about Ghoul abilities. She always gets irritated by those tall tales."_

" _Ok."_

* * *

"…Vividly." She finally replied. "But what exactly does _dancing_ have to do with this fusing thing?"

"Fusion and dance are far more similar than you might think." Garnet spoke up. "Both rely on the partners moving and acting as one. When it is done right, the partners can be seen as one entity, flowing from one form to the next. They do not disagree; they do not argue. They simply follow the rhythm of their steps."

Connie frowned. "But Pearl and Amethyst didn't dance. They just melted into each other."

"That's because we're awesome." Amethyst answered. "The dancing's nice, but it's really just a crutch. Gets you into the right head space and stuff."

And something Steven will need to master before he can attempt fusion with us." Pearl said. "Now, if you would be so kind as to clear the floor. Garnet and I will show you how to do it." She pressed a button on the stereo, and the music started up again. She and Garnet stood in the middle of the room, pressing their hands together and intertwining their fingers. Then they were moving slowly and serenely, waltzing around the room. Garnet spun Pearl around before pressing her close to her chest. One hand was holding Pearl by her waist, as she lifted Pearl into the air before bringing her back down. Pearl leaned back, almost bent over as Garnet lent forward, her face close to Pearl.

Connie started feeling very uncomfortable watching this. This seemed too… personal.

"Steven." She said warily. "Just… how close are Pearl and Garnet… exactly?" Steven shrugged, and then the two Ghouls finished their dance.

"See, Steven? Now try some moves with me and Garnet." Steven jumped up and ran over to them, eager to try again. But expected, there were problems when a kid tries to dance with a full-grown woman. Both Garnet and Pearl were simply too tall for him. He needed Garnet to hold him in order to hold Pearl up, and Pearl actually tripped over him at one point. Garnet didn't try anything too involved, but her own moves got faster and faster, leaving him behind.

As someone tutored in dance, these glaring holes in their lessons were just _unbearable_.

"I think that might be enough for today." Pearl said, calling it quits. "These things can't be forced; nor can they be rushed. Perhaps if we wait until tomorrow, we might have some more success." Steven looked crestfallen; he must really want to do fusion. "Oh, don't fret Steven. Even _we_ had trouble with fusion."

"Not me." Garnet added.

Pearl gave her a look. "Just… relax. Take your mind off fusion for a while. Hang out with your… friend." She narrowed her eyes at Connie. Connie gripped her bag tighter, feeling nervous.

"Come on Steven." She said, grabbing him by the hand. "We can do some drawing. There's a contest that I want to try out for." He let her lead him outside, where she led him to a closed off grassy area that she found. Then she got two scrapbooks out of her bag. "Now, let's draw something vibrant. Something meaningful. Something that represent our feelings and emotions." She said dramatically. She turned back to Steven to find him hard at work, already halfway through a drawing. Kinda amazed by his speed and gusto, she quickly got to work. They had about half an hour of silence, only the sound of birds chirping and pencils scribbling filling the air.

"And… done." She said triumphantly, lifting up her page into the air. She turned it around to show Steven; it was a highly detailed picture of herself, dressed in a knight's armour and standing over a dragon, sword raised. "I think it looks great. What about you Steven? What did _you_ draw?"

"Huh?" He answered, obviously distracted. "Oh. Nothing much. Just a few things." He grabbed all his paper, sorting them into a pile and handing them over to her. She frowned as she looked at them. The first picture was a person; a woman with four arms. She had many similarities to Pearl, but parts of her resembled Steven. Pearl's spiked hair and dancer physique mixed with Steven's roundness and curly hair, becoming bigger and poofier.

Still frowning, she looked at the others. They were all very similar. A woman that looked very much like Steven, and very much like his aunts.

"You're still thinking about Fusion, aren't you?" She said aloud. Steven looked at the ground, nodding slightly. "I thought Pearl said you should take a break from it for now? Give yourself some time to relax before trying again?"

"I know. But I just really, really, _really_ want to fuse. It looks so amazing, so awesome. Pearl and Amethyst used their kagune together to make an amazing bow! I've never even _seen_ someone do that before. And…" He looked away. "Maybe if I could fuse, they'd let me help out sometimes. I know I didn't do so well against the Flayed Ones. But they caught me by surprise, and there were so many of them."

" _And_ you were trying to hide the fact that you were a Ghoul from me."

"That too."

Connie sighed. He was really determined about this. She got up. "I don't know how much help I can be with fusion. But I've taken dance lessons before. I could help you on that part." She placed her phone on the ground and started the music player, music coming out of the speakers. Then, she held out one hand to Steven. He smiled, and quickly gripped it. She pulled him upright, and grabbed his other hand. "Ok. We'll start with something simple. I'll step back while you step forward. We'll do a little spin, and then we'll go the opposite direction. Just follow the beat. One… Two… Three… One… Two… Three…" As she called out the numbers, she took a single step back. Steven, catching on, took one step forward. They continued this way to the far wall, before she told him to stop. "Good. Now, spin on the spot." They turned around once, then twice. "See? You're getting it. Now, step back. One… Two… Three… One… Two… Three…" They went through like this twice, getting into the rhythm. Now she was calling out the numbers faster, and Steven kept up. One twirl, then two. Back and forward, back and forward. Their movements got faster.

"Heh. This is actually pretty fun." Steven said. "When did you learn all this?"

"A few years ago. Mom wanted me to be versed in a few things. But I've always been a bit shy. I kept on freezing up whenever there was a crowd." She took a deep breath. "This is actually a lot easier. No rules, no expectations…"

"Just two friends having fun, right?" Steven said, laughing. They were now spinning around, not caring about the rhythm. Just doing what seemed fun.

"Yeah. Just having fun." She smiled back. She moved to step back, but lost her footing for a second. Not that long; just enough for her to start falling backwards. She felt a jolt of worry before Steven caught her, his face close to hers. They both blushed bright red before they were overcome with nervous laughter. Tears ran down their cheeks as they found themselves unable to stop. Something dripped down on her face, and she wiped it away as she opened her eyes again.

Steven's belly was glowing with pink light. And his skin was… dripping. Connie could only let out a muffled croak before he seemingly melted, and engulfed her completely…

* * *

Connie gasped as she woke up, heart racing at a bajillion miles per hour. That… was unbelievably freaky. And surreal. Why was Steven even melting? Was it some kind of metaphor for something? Was all that some kind of message? She groaned, and pressed a hand to her face. As soon as she got out of bed, she was going to…

She felt the grass under her fingers, and the breeze on her skin. The sun was shining down on her, the sky a brilliant red of afternoon. This… This wasn't her bedroom. Which meant that all she dreamt about was…

"Steven?" She called out in a panicky tone, looking around. She seemed alone out here. "Steven, where are you?"

"Connie?" She gasped and clapped her hands over her face as Steven spoke. But not from hearing his voice.

From hearing the words come out of _her_ mouth.

"…Steven?" She called out quietly, pulling her hands away.

"Connie?" Her mouth responded. She gasped, even as she felt her hands pull away from her face, out of her control. She could feel them touch the grass, run along her legs and then cover the gem where her bellybutton would be. "I… I did it. _We_ did it."

"Did what? Steven… Is… Is this _fusion_?" She felt panicky. But also proud. And _amazed_. She had some control over her body, but at times it felt like she was fighting something. She stumbled back onto her feet, at risk of falling over at every moment. Her centre of balance was completely off. She nearly fell over again as her foot shifted against her will.

"It… It _must_ be. You and I controlling the same body, moving as… well, _kinda_ as one." He started laughing as they wobbled from foot to foot. "I mean, what else could this be?"

Connie looked down at herself… _themselves_. It was no wonder she… they were having trouble walking. They were taller, easily twice their old height. And just from the feel of it, they were wider too. Curvier as well. Before, their clothes were slightly loose; now they felt a little bit tight. She felt Steven raise a hand to her hair, running her fingers through long, bushy locks. A combination of their hairstyles.

Honestly, she wanted to panic. This was _not_ normal. She was human, covered in the… whatever this was, made by a _ghoul_. This stuff could be eating away at her, infecting her. But Steven's joy… it somehow made the fear seem less real. He just so happy and giddy that he was overwhelming her. She gasped, her voice box taken over by Steven.

"Wait." He said. "I just thought of something. I need a mirror. Now." He ran out into the street, managing to keep upright despite their new height. He stopped by a window, the sun reflecting their appearance right back at them. Connie was surprised by just how… surreal this was. It was like she was looking at a teenage version of herself, but with Steven's features mixed in. The head shape was mostly his, while the nose was a mix between her structure, and his nostrils. But Steven wasn't focusing on those.

He was looking at his eyes. One cyan, one pink. A star-shaped glimmer near the top of the iris. But despite that, she looked…

"Human." Steven whispered. "I… _We_ look human."

"It must be because we're mostly human." Connie said aloud. "I'm full human, you're half… Together, that makes us three-quarters human." She looked down as she felt her hands rifling through her pockets. Their pockets. Whatever. "Uh, Steven? What are you doing?"

"This could be my _one_ chance, Connie." He said. "I need to try this. Just once. I have to know." He smiled as he pulled out some Yen, and ran for the Donut Emporium. Inside were two older kids that lived on the same street; Sadie and Lars. She had never actually talked to them much before, but she could instantly tell that Lars wasn't very nice.

Steven pushed open the door, ringing the bell set up overhead. Sadie and Lars turned to look at their new customer, and their mouths dropped open for some reason. Steven nervously walked up to the counter.

"Uh… Hi." He said. "I'd like… uh… hmm… ah…" A nervous energy started filling her, making her feel jittery. Sweat beaded her brow. A twinge of fear ran down her spine.

She decided to take over, before something happened. She just hoped she didn't mess things up. "One cinnamon glazed donut please." She said, handing over the money. The two teens just kept staring, even as she waved the notes in their faces.

"…Onthehouse!" Sadie practically shouted. "The donuts… donuts are on the house." She was blushing as she handed over the donut in question, fresh out of the oven.

"Uhh… Thanks." They said, confused. "Thanks for that." And then they left, sitting down on the sidewalk nearby. "Is this really what you were wanting?" Connie asked.

"Yes? No? Maybe?" Steven replied. "I just want to…" They looked down at the donut. Unease drifted through them. Hands shaking a bit, they slowly brought the donut to their mouth. Took a careful bite of the baked good. And chewed it slowly.

It had an unusual aftertaste to it. But for the most part, it tasted just like a regular donut. Steven gasped in shock, before guzzling down the rest like a starving man.

"That… Was… So… Yummy." He said in awe, eyes shining. Happiness filled them; from the tip of their toes to the ends of their hair. "No wonder people like sugary sweets so much. They're the most delicious thing on the planet."

Connie blinked in surprise. " _That_ was what you were after? To see what a donut _tasted_ like?"

"Well, not a donut in particular. I just wanted to know what human food was like." He moaned. "So good."

"You mean… You've _never_ eaten human food before?" She knew that Ghouls couldn't stomach human food – some kind of genetic quirk – but she felt that they would've had to at least try the food at least once. How could you go through life not knowing if you like regular food?

"Not really. Pearl wouldn't let me try any. I managed to sneak a bite of someone's sandwich, but I threw it up barely a minute later. But I can see why you guys like it so much. It's so yummy." They licked their lips in pleasure. "So what should we do now? Maybe go into town and play games? Or try some more food? I've always wondered what chocolate tastes like."

"Um… Maybe we should head home. I mean, _your_ home. To tell your aunts about this." Connie was feeling a bit nervous. Half the things she did, the things she felt… those weren't hers. She was constantly stuck in a tug-of-war with Steven over… well, everything. It worried her, this dissonance. What if she was stuck like this forever? How could she possibly cope?

She was hit by a small backwash of nervous energy. Steven actually being nervous, or was he reacting to her own emotions? "I dunno." They said, rubbing the back of their head. "Pearl… She's great and all, a really a good caretaker. She's like the perfect mom. But she… she not fond of humans."

"I can tell from how she reacts around me." Connie said dryly.

"She doesn't hate you guys or anything. She's not like _that_. She just feels that we shouldn't be together. That we'll never coexist. I think she'd feel happier living out in the middle of nowhere if she could survive out there." They looked at the ground between their feet. "What I'm trying to say is that I don't think she'd be ok with me fusing with a human."

"What about Garnet and Amethyst? Wouldn't they like it either?"

"I dunno. Maybe. Or maybe they'd be ok with it." A hint of anger sparked like a flame. "I know they're all trying to protect me and stuff, but I just want to hang out like a _normal_ kid. I'm sure that if people just got to know us better, then they'd stop thinking that we're monsters."

Connie _severely_ doubted that. She knew that she only has one grandparent because of Ghouls. They had gotten eaten alive by gangs when her parents were younger. The idea that Mom and Dad would leave Ghouls alone because they seemed nice… Well, it just seemed unlikely.

A strange thudding feeling came from within them. The world seemed to lose colour, and the ground started stretching.

Connie forced them to their feet. "You know what Steven? Let's go have some fun. Maybe go hang out."

A warm feeling filled them up like a balloon. "Great. I know just the place." Steven said.

* * *

"Uh… Where did you say you learnt about this place from?" Connie asked nervously, looking up at the flickering neon sign dubiously. It was situated over a battered door, advertising it as 'The Groove Machine'. Despite its battered exterior, there was already a line of people waiting to go in.

"From a friend." Steven replied, keeping his voice low. People had already looked at them before, probably wondering why they were talking to themselves. "He's in charge of the music in there. And he told me that I could come when I was bigger." He tapped a fist against their leg. "Well, I'm bigger now."

"I… I still don't know." Connie replied. "How are we even going to get past the bouncer?" She could tell what this was; a nightclub. Something that she was pretty sure two kids weren't allowed to see. Even _if_ they were fused into a bigger person.

"Relax, Connie. I've seen this dozens of times. We're friends with the musician; therefore, they have to let us in."

"I don't think… whoa!" Steven got them both moving, joining the line for the club. Connie kept fidgeting with their long hair, still certain that this was going to go wrong. They got closer and closer; some of the people got in easily. Some had to pull out their wallets and show something to the bouncer. And a few were turned away, the bouncer glowering menacingly at them. Eventually though, it was their turn. The bouncer looked them up and down.

"I… I'm a friend of the musician." Steven stammered. The bouncer snorted.

"Really? Then what's his name?" He asked in a deep rumbling voice. This guy could break them just by flexing.

"Sour Cream." Steven said without hesitation. Connie got ready to be turfed out.

But to her surprise, he just smirked at them before waving them through. They walked forward on shaky legs, going through a hall into a large room. They were immediately struck by the sheer volume of people… and music.

The whole room was filled with people, dressed in weird costumes and bobbing in time to the music. The bass vibrated right _through_ them it was so deep. Up at the front of the club was a lanky teen in baggy jeans and a hoodie, his hair spiked up by probably a _lot_ of hair gel. Glow-rings lined his arms, almost appearing to flash in the shifting lights.

"How can anyone even talk with all this noise?" Connie asked herself. It was so loud she could barely hear _herself_ , let alone anyone else.

"I don't think you're _supposed_ to talk; you're here to dance and have fun." Steven replied. He started leading them both down to the dancefloor. "Let's have some fun Connie. Let's dance."

She smiled; dancing sounded like fun. "Ok. Just let me take the reins for a bit." She said. Steven lead her right to the centre of the dancefloor, Connie stumbling slightly as she got control back. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling the rhythm flowing through her.

And then she started dancing.

Her first moves were a little clunky – she was still getting used to the height difference she now had – but as she kept going, she felt her body get more in tune with the beat. When the music went high, she spun around. When it went low, she started tapping her feet. As it curved up and down, she moved forward and back. She felt her body throw in a few extra moves, but they all felt just right. Like someone correcting her when she forgot a step.

Soon, it was just the two of them, mingling as one. No crowds, no clubs… Just them.

As the beat came to an end, she took in a deep breath… and opened her eyes to see everyone standing still, in a ring around them.

"Uh… Wh-What's the matter? Shouldn't everyone here be dancing? Isn't that why we're here?" She asked nervously. A chill ran down her spine, and she realised that she was sweating a bit. "What's with all the stares? Is there something on me?" Panic was starting to bubble inside of her. She didn't want to be the centre of attention. She just wanted to have fun. So why was everyone _staring_ at her?!

The music started again with a loud shriek, startling everyone. The crowd turned back to their friends, talking about whatever they were talking about before. Several people came out onto the dancefloor again, spinning around and taking up space. Connie stumbled out of the crush, pushing her way through until she reached empty seats. She flopped down, panting slightly. The nervous energy and anxiety within her calmed down.

"What… was _that_?" Steven asked her. Connie closed her eyes, and tried to get her breath back.

"I… I don't do so well… in crowds. I get nervous. And…" She brushed her hair aside in embarrassment. "I just prefer dancing on my own." She closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat, trying to get rid of all the anxiety.

She heard the sound of someone falling onto padded cushions, and opened her eyes to find people sitting around her. They were all wearing tattered clothing, with carefully-placed rips and tears, and their hair was a vibrant spectrum of colours.

"Those were some nice moves out there." The girl next to them said cheerfully. "Most people just kind of… spasm to the music." She held out a hand. "Name's Manoka. You new to the scene?"

"Uh… yeah. I'm new." Connie replied, shaking Manoka's hand. "Call me Connie." She said, just as Steven took over to say his name. It ended up being jumbled up, coming out as the weird name 'Stevonnie'.

"Stevonnie? Cool. A little weird, but who cares about _common_ names?" The other teens around them chuckled. A boy with his shirt wide open rested his arm on the headrest behind her, leaving Connie feeling a little claustrophobic. "Anyway, couldn't help noticing that you're not out there anymore. Done dancing?"

"Uh… kinda. I get a little nervous when lots of people stare at me."

Manoka stuck out her tongue. "That must suck. But maybe we can help you out." She waved an arm out to the crowd. "We're all getting bored of this scene. Losers are hogging all the good stuff, and the bouncer's stopped letting interesting people in. We were going to head on out and make our own fun. Wanna join?"

"I… I don't really know. It's probably getting late. My parents will freak if I'm not back before curfew." They'd also probably freak if they knew what she had been doing tonight, but these kids didn't need to know that.

The guy beside her shuffled closer. "Come on Stevonnie. Don't be a square all your life. Curfew's just how old people ruin everyone's fun. There'll be some drinks, some food, maybe a little bit of the 'woo-woo'. You'll love it?"

"'Woo-woo'? Are we going to see a train?" Steven asked. "Do you think they'll let us have a quick pull on the horn?" The kids started laughing, some spluttering their drinks. Someone muttered about how they were 'so innocent'.

"Yeah, great idea. Who doesn't love trains?" The guy said. "We could find some way to get you into the driver's seat."

"That sounds…" Steven tried to say, but Connie took the voice box back. "…I don't know."

"Come on. It won't take that long." Manoka wheedled. "Just hang out for an hour. If you really care about what some old antiques care about, then you can go home easy peasy. But if you want to have some real fun…"

"Well… ok. Just for an hour though." The kids cheered, waving their drinks around. Caught up in the mood, Stevonnie started giggling.

"Let's go then." Manoka grabbed Stevonnie by the hand, and pulled her away from the couch. "We just need to pick up something first. Won't take long." The crowd led them out through a back door, weaving through alleyways until they reached a busy market. Laughing and joking along the way, they pulled up in front of a small mask shop. Inside, there was a wide variety of masks. Oni masks, tiger masks, dragon masks, masks that looked like trees, masks that resembled machines, even a mask that looked more like some abstract art. The shirt guy went up to the counter, throwing Yen at the teller and telling him to keep the change.

"Are we doing an early Halloween party or something?" Steven asked Manoka.

"A bit. We're gonna just give people a little fright at times. Wait for them to walk by, and then jump out shouting 'BOO!' It'll be fun. And harmless."

Stevonnie smiled. "Well, as long as it's harmless." They walked through the store, searching for a mask. One they picked up at random looked pretty cool. It was a yin-yang mask, with stylised curls in the design. One of the dots had been cut out for an eyehole, while a thin fabric covered the other eyehole. They put it on, and looked at the nearby mirror.

"It looks… pretty neat." Connie admitted.

"Yeah." Steven said. "And it's so us. Two different people, fused together. Smart and fun, working together. As one, but also as two."

Connie chuckled. That sounded like them alright. Guess this really _was_ the perfect mask for them. She headed towards the counter, pulling out what was left of their money. Hopefully, it'll cover the mask.

They stopped as one of the other girls held out an arm. She had orange hair, and a dress that was mostly fishnet and showing off a lot of her body. "Don't bother. Shinji's already paid for everyone. Just take it and follow the others." She pointed towards the door, where the gang was filing out. Stevonnie hurried after them, getting a bit of a shock when someone clapped their arm on her shoulder.

"Ha hah." Manoka laughed. "Getting a little jumpy, aren't we?" She held out a bottle, liquid sloshing inside of it. "Have a bit of this. Help calm your nerves or whatever." Stevonnie took the bottle, Connie looking at it dubiously. But they tipped it back, and drank some of whatever was inside. Their throat felt like it was on fire, and she ended up coughing half of it back out. The others giggled a little. "Sorry. Should've mentioned it was a bit strong."

"What… What _was_ that?" Connie wheezed, throat still feeling ablaze.

"Liquid courage." Shinji answered, taking a swig himself. "You'll get used to it." He wrapped an arm around their shoulder, waving the bottle in the air.

"Alright gang. Let's go have some _real_ fun!" He called out.

* * *

They had spent a bit of time, sneaking up on people and pranking them. One of the would wear a mask, hide behind a dumpster, and as soon as someone got close, jump out making an ungodly racket. Then the victim made a similar amount of shrieks, before running off in fright. It was all a bit of harmless fun really.

But now things were getting a bit late. If they didn't leave soon, they were going to be late. And Connie's parents would ground her for the rest of the year.

"Oh come on, Stevonnie." Shinji said when they told him this. "Lighten up. The night's barely started."

Connie frowned, hand on her hips. "The deal was that I'd spend an hour with you guys, and then I could go home. It's nearly been an hour now; I don't have to stay out any longer than I want to."

"Ok, ok. Take it easy." Manoka tried to placate her. "Fine, you can go. But there's just one last thing we need to do first."

"See the train?" Steven asked.

"Uh… no. We were going to meet a few other friends of ours a bit later tonight, but we got a text saying that they left early. Usually they pass through one of the alleys on their way to town; I want to give them a great big scare before we go out and party some more."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"We'll point out our friends to you; then you go and intercept them. Tell them that there's a wild party down one of the more secluded alleys, and then we'll all jump out and give them a fright. Then you get to go home, and we get to keep partying."

"Well… Alright. But just this one thing." Nodding and laughing to each other, the teens led them out across town, ending up near a construction site. They climbed up onto some low rooftops, sitting down and lying around. Connie was crucially aware of every second that passed by.

Manoka slapped the rooftop. "There they are." She pointed to some more teens, dressed in less-ripped clothing and sporting more make-up and hair gel. They looked like they had a very good time tonight. "You know your role; get down there, and lure them into the scare zone." She pointed towards the construction site. "That looks like a great place to give them a fright."

Stevonnie nodded. "Right. But don't leave me hanging." She hung her mask on the side of her head, climbing down off the roof and quickly running for the kids. She skidded to a stop before them, getting their attention. "Uhh… Hey there. Did you guys hear the latest news? DJ Sour Cream was going to host a late night _extra special_ party down round here. Very exclusive; very hush-hush."

One of the girls perked up. "Really? I love his music so much. Where is it happening?" Stevonnie hooked a thumb towards the construction site, worried they'd see through their lie.

One of the guys sniffed. "Doesn't look like any party's happening."

"Like I said; it's hush-hush. They have to wait till the last moment to turn the lights and music on, or else the cops might bust it up."

"I dunno; sounds fishy to me. Like some Ghoul set-up."

The girl glared at her friend. "Come on Shaun. Stop being so paranoid. There are no Ghouls around here. Besides, DJ Hooka did the same thing four months ago, remember?" And then she was rushing off into the construction site, some of the others right behind her. She must've been the leader of the group.

"Carol!" Shaun called out, before groaning in frustration. But then he was following her too, and his friends followed after _him_. Certain that she had done all she could, Stevonnie followed after them. One scare. One scare; and then she was off home. At least it'll be a _great_ scare.

She quickly hid behind a girder, moving her mask over to cover her face. She gnashed her teeth together, making snarling noises. And then she jumped out from cover. "BOO!" She shouted.

And then figures jumped down from above, all wearing masks and kagunes erupting from their backs. The kids barely had time to scream before the Ghouls slammed into them, tearing off limbs and ripping out organs. Stevonnie gasped in horror; the masks… those were their new friends. They started backing away, but something grabbed them from behind.

"Where you going Stevonnie?" Shinji asked in a raspy voice. "Fun's not over yet." His koukaku caressed her face, and he licked her cheek. Crying out in fear, Connie and Steven's panic drew on their part-ghoul nature. Their left eye turned purple, and Shinji was knocked away as their ukaku grew.

The others stopped their rampage, turning towards their leader. Black eyes glared at Stevonnie. Manoka, wearing a mask resembling an ant, stepped forward.

"Huh. Well whadda you know? Looks like Stevonnie's one of us." She said. "That's a bit shitty. I was kinda interested in tasting your liver." She shrugged. "Ah well. Plenty of food here anyway."

Stevonnie glared at her, fists shaking in anger. "You… lied to me."

"Not really. Ok, I guess I _did_ , but not all the time. I said we'd give them a fright; I never said they'd survive it. Besides, why do you even _care_? They're just humans."

"Just humans? You're acting like that actually means anything! They're still people that you just murdered for no good reason."

"We did have a reason. We were hungry. That, and we're so much better than them. They're the prey; we're the predators." Manoka shrugged. "It's simple, really."

Connie started feeling scared. Scared and angry. Her parents were right; ghouls _are_ monsters. Here they were, standing over people they butchered and acting like the sheer fact they exist is enough of a reason.

"It's Ghouls like you lot that give the rest of us a bad name. We should be trying to get _along_ with them, not killing them whenever it suits us." The teens all started laughing at their words. Some were clutching their sides and bent over.

"Seriously?" Shinji said as he walked around Stevonnie. "You're one of _those_ freaks? Why do you even _bother_? They hate us on sheer principle. Every time we get hungry, they see that as one more reason we're monsters. Why waste effort trying to cuddle up to them when we could be doing whatever we feel like?"

Stevonnie took a step away from him. "They're not going to change their minds unless we show them that we're not monsters. People like you lot keep ruining that."

"Shinji, stop talking politics. I'm hungry as hell, and I still want to gut her." Manoka called out. Shinji looked over his shoulder, before shrugging.

"Fine by me. But I get dibs on screwing her." He replied. And then he was rushing towards Stevonnie, grabbing them by the arms. Steven was willing their ukaku to do something, but it wasn't budging. Feeling frightened, Connie tapped into her self-defence training. She spun around, kicking his feet out from under him and slamming him into a girder. As they backed away, they glanced over their shoulder to see why the kagune wasn't working.

A giant pink and blue flower blossomed from between their shoulder blades.

"That's all we've got?" Connie whined. Why couldn't they have gotten a more _useful_ kagune? Left with no choice, they started running. The Ghoul teens jumped into the girders, chasing them from above. They would never fight them all off. They had to get to safety.

Then there was a loud bang, and a teen fell from above. His chest was blasted open, and his body was trying to knit itself back together again. Lights flared around them, and people were running everywhere.

People in suits.

"The Doves!" Someone shouted, right before he was sliced apart by a dove with a giant halberd. The teens completely forgot about them in their mad dash for safety or their attempt to kill a few doves. Shaking from adrenaline, Stevonnie tried to sneak away. She pulled her kagune back into her body – it would be useless right now, and all it did was mark her out as a target. Hopefully, the Doves will just assume that she was a survivor of the…

A man in a long billowing coat dropped down before her, a four pronged gun wrapped around his hand. His face was hidden behind a large collar, and shiny glasses. Grey hair spiked upwards from his head.

Connie gulped. Chuu Hachikawa. Easily one of the scariest agents. He didn't give a damn about anyone else. He would easily open fire on a civilian just to hurt a Ghoul. And he was standing in her way.

"Going somewhere, freak?" He growled, pointing his quinque at her. She wanted to explain, wanted to tell him she was human, wanted to say that she wasn't involved in this. But the fear was too much. She was afraid of the man before her, and Steven was afraid because _she_ was afraid.

They were going to die.

There was a shout from above, and Hachikawa looked up in time to dodge a glowing orb flying towards him. The orb exploded, creating a crater and blowing Stevonnie away. She went flying into an embrace, and had familiar arms wrapped around her. She looked up to see a woman with an afro holding onto her.

"Gar… Gauntlet." They exclaimed.

"Hello Steven. Hello Connie." Garnet replied, expression hidden by her mask. Then they were jumping away, Garnet's kagune lashing out. The blows sent a few agents flying, other were knocked off their feet by the impact. Not far away, Amethyst was ripping someone's throat out with her claws, her bikaku slashing someone across the chest. And Pearl was busy fighting against Hachikawa, her blows sending him stumbling before slicing his leg. He fell over, but she came under fire before she could finish him off. Spotting them, she jumped towards them even as they kept moving.

"Are you certain this is him?" She asked once she was close enough, worry evident in her voice. "I'm not leaving until I know we've found him."

"Pearl! You saved me!" Steven exclaimed. A sense of calm washed over them. "Check it out! I managed to do fusion! Connie's here too!"

"You… Fused?! With a human?!" Pearl looked shocked, even behind her mask.

"We can worry about that later. Right now, we need to get out of here." Garnet said. As she said that, she suddenly flung herself to the side. The ground by their feet exploded from a grenade, the three of them barely avoiding it. Stevonnie felt herself slipping from Garnet's grip, sliding away through the air. Steven tapped into their Ghoul nature, allowing Connie's gymnastics to have them land safely. But then they were blasted off the girder they landed on, smacking into a few others before hitting something solid. Groaning in pain, she got to her feet and started running away. Staying still here was too dangerous. They needed to find a way out. She jumped over a nearby fence, landing in a parallel alley. They then ran towards one of the openings, heading away from the fighting.

A hunchbacked man with white hair landed in front of them, one arm covered in a carapace. An unsightly grin was on his face. Stevonnie quickly turned to run away, only to have her feet swiped out from under her. She rolled over in time to see him standing over her, his face twisted to resemble a monster's.

He swung his weapon, and they closed their eyes and screamed. But the dreaded blow never came. She opened her eyes to find out why.

Time seemed to slow as she took everything in. Pearl was hovering in the air between them, spinning as she moved. Her koukaku was hanging limply, bits hacked out of it. Drops of red flew through the air, an arc of it flying away. As Pearl spun towards them, they saw the line carved across her body. She gave them one sad smile, before closing her eyes.

And then her body exploded, blood splashing everywhere. The Dove backed away, wiping his face clean. Stevonnie watched in shock as a pearl – _Pearl's_ pearl – fell to the ground.

"…NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Steven screamed, anguish and pain and loss flooding them completely. Drowning them. They could not move, they could not act, they could do nothing but voice Steven's pain. Even Connie, who knew that Pearl didn't really care about humans, could only feel pity and loss. To lose your mother figure right in front of you, to have them sacrifice themselves to protect you… that would have to be the most painful way to see them go.

Arms wrapped around their midsection. Garnet again, having found them. They were fired upon by Doves, and she jumped away from the fighting. "Puma! Grab the Pearl!" She called out as she ran. Behind them, another Dove with short black hair was reaching for the pearl until Amethyst grabbed it with her bikaku. And then they were all running away.

But no matter where they turned, there were just more and more Doves. It was like they knew where they were going. They ended up running into a dead end, with very little options available.

The world had been growing darker for Stevonnie. Now, as they came to a halt, her body felt like it was tearing in two. They stumbled, and then red liquid splattered around them, leaving Connie and Steven lying on the ground.

Amethyst landed near them. "Alright Glorious Leader. You see any way we can get out of _this_ cluster…?"

Puma." Garnet admonished her. "There _is_ a way. Pearl won't like it, but…" They looked down at the gem Amethyst held. The only thing left of her.

"Eh. She'd groan and whine about it, but even _she_ could see we're out of options. I'm sure she'll get over it." Amethyst said.

"She'll have to." Garnet grabbed the pearl, and turned towards Steven and Connie. She was holding him tightly, as he cried freely. "Steven. Steven." Garnet called his name. "Listen to me. We're running out of options here. There's an opening big enough for you two to escape. But Amethyst and I need to distract the Doves before they catch you." She grabbed his hands, and placed the pearl into it. "Take Pearl and yourselves, and get home. Now."

But Steven didn't respond. He just kept staring at the pearl, before clutching it to his chest. Connie looked on in worry.

"Did… Did she have any last requests?" She asked. "Maybe someplace she wanted to be buried?"

"Don't worry. Pearl's…" She was interrupted by encroaching sounds. The Doves were closing in. "Just get him home. Alive." She turned around and pulled away at part of the fence. A wet opening, just their size, lay on the other side. "Go. We've got this."

Connie didn't argue. She just wanted this night to be over and done with. She grabbed Steven by the hand, the pearl clutched tightly in his other hand, and pulled him through the opening. Behind them, they heard the sound of metal scraping over metal. But they didn't look back.

The opening covered, Garnet turned to Amethyst. No words needed to be said; they both knew what to do. It was something too dangerous to use normally. But the Doves forced their hand.

Holding hands, they both turned into flowing RC Cells, and merged into one.

* * *

"We've got those last Ghouls cornered!" One of the doves shouted, leading the charge. "This place is a dead end. Once we surround them, prepare to wipe them out."

"Orders received." Someone else replied. They were all professionals. They had all been on dozens of missions like this. Keeping a lookout on trouble spots like this was easy. They only wished they had been faster; they could've saved those kids. But at least they'll have vengeance.

They rounded the corner, quinques at the ready. There was enough firepower between them to kill those Ghouls a dozen times over. This was going to be a massacre.

"For Humanity!" The team leader shouted, moving in with five others… And then there was a loud cracking sound. The six of them went flying out, slamming against the far wall hard enough to be smeared all over it. There was a large quake, and then another as something rose up. The helicopters trained their lights on the beast.

It was a giant monster, easily four times taller than any of them. It had the shape of a woman and purple skin, along with wild purple hair. A giant Amethyst gem peeked out from under top, shining through the hole. Two kagune in the shape of arms grew from her shoulders, while a second pair grew from her back. RC Cells wrapped around her face and reached into her mouth, revealing snarling fangs and a lone eye glaring down at them. The rest of her face was hidden behind giant sunglasses. The beast glared down at them, a deep growled roiling from her.

"You made the biggest fucking mistake of your lives humans." It snarled at them. "Now I'm going to bring your murdering bastard organisation down around your _burning corpses_!" She roared loudly, her kagune wrapping together before slamming down on the agents like a flail.

The surviving Doves screamed and retreated, trying their best to survive long enough to come up with a plan.

But how often does one even come across a Ghoul this _big_?

* * *

 **I didn't really** _ **want**_ **to end this on such a cliffhanger, but I was getting tired of writing, and I knew that if I didn't end it here I'd never get this chapter done. Besides, 8,000 words should be long enough.**

 **So yes, we're kinda covering the Stevonnie and Sugilite episodes right now, along with a dose of Pearl's death. Fans of Steven Universe obviously know that she's not dead; she's just retreated into her gem to rest and recover. Of course, Steven doesn't know this, so it'll be interesting when she wakes up.**

 **I know I switch between 'they' and 'she' when referring to Stevonnie. That was completely intentional, seeing as Stevonnie has a feminine figure despite being a fusion of a boy and a girl. Word of God from Steven Universe is that Stevonnie is simply 'an experience'. Hence why I'm not sticking to one pronoun.**

 **Ok, that's done. Now we'll probably end up waiting a very long while before another chapter comes out. Please do not constantly bug me about when I'm releasing another chapter, as I might end up ignoring you guys to work on a different story that I want to try and complete.**


	6. Where's the story?

**Story Update**

 **Ok. For a lot of people, you're probably wondering what's going on with me and this story. You might be wondering if I've given up or something. I haven't given up yet. I've just been busy with the never-ending complicated process known as life. It is way too easy for a month or more to pass you by in a hurry, what with work, appointments, and recreation. But something else that's taken up a lot of my time is that I've started brainstorming and writing my own** _ **original**_ **story.**

 **Yes. An original story of my own design. (Although let's be real, in this day and age, practically every story has similarities with other stories out there.)**

 **So that's taking up a lot of time because, obviously, you have to come up with the setting, the rules of the world, the characters and relations, and the plot of the story. Oh, and every little detail that could turn a four page idea into an actual novel. So that takes a lot of planning, writing, reading, replanning, rewriting, rereading, etc, etc.**

 **So if I take a long, long time to put up a new chapter… now at least you know why. Now at least I've got an excuse besides probably being lazy.**

 **And because I'd probably get quite a few PMs asking me about my story, here's the general idea.**

 _ **In a fantasy world under siege from a Dark Lord, the villain Naraxxas has vanished. His evil forces have been routed. But instead of everyone celebrating and having a time of peace, most of the kingdoms are gearing up to take land and settle old grudges. One kingdom under threat, Helvarch, realises that the only way they can survive is by setting up a fake enemy to unite the world again. So they grab a well-trained recruit named Allana, and have her (yes, her) agree to pretend to be Naraxxas. So now Allana has to juggle remaining good and noble in the heart of evil, while still keeping up the masquerade of being one of the vilest men on the planet. And also dealing with everyone wanting her head on a platter, and her own allies being ready to stab her in the back.**_

 **And that's the general plot so far. Here's hoping I can get something good out of it. And if anything in there sounds way too familiar (mostly any names I have mentioned so far), please let me know, along with the source material.**

 **PS: If you read more than one of my stories and receive an update for them, it's just this update again. You only have to read it once.**


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